MC 3379/2009 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE AMITAVA ROY THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PK MUSAHARY Heard Mr. KN Choudhury, Senior Advocate for the applicant and Mr. M Kotokey, lea rned counsel for the opposite party. The applicant herein has prayed for the following directions: - In the premises it is, therefore, prayed that Your Lordship may be pleased to a dmit this application, issue a notice upon the respondent and upon hearing the p arties, be pleased to pass appropriate Orders making appointment of the sole Arb itrator to enter into a reference in respect of the disputes involved in the arb itration proceeding in question and be further pleased to grant appropriate exte nsion/enlargement of the time for concluding the arbitration proceeding and/or b e pleased to pass any such order or further orders as to Your Lordship may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case. The parties herein are locked in a dispute pertaining to a contract to operate S nacks Bar at LGBI Airport, Guwahati awarded by the then National Airport Authori ty (now Airport Authority of India) in favour of the opposite party herein. Foll owing the cancellation of the licence to the above effect by the AAI, the opposi te party instituted Title Suit (Arb) Nos. 85/1990 & 193/1990 and the learned Cou rts below passed an order directing maintenance of status quo on an interim appl ication filled by the opposite party. A compromise decree followed and on 17.02. 1992, the learned Court below ordered that the opposite party would pay 40% of t he licence fee till the dispute was resolved by arbitration. Thereafter, as the recorded facts would reveal, on a few occasions Arbitrators had been appointed i n terms of Clause 34 of the concerned agreement, but the resolution of differenc es between the parties eluded the resultant proceedings. Hon’ble Mr. Justice SP Rajkhowa (Retd.) last appointed as the sole Arbitrator having withdrawn from the proceedings on 05.08.2011, according to the applicant, the process lies in limb o. Mr. Choudhury has urged that in the facts and circumstances of the case, having regard to the Clause 34 of the contract agreement between the parties, an approp riate order ought to be passed requiring appointment of a sole Arbitrator in ter ms thereof for settling the lingering dispute between the parties. Mr. Katakey has no objection to the appointment of such an Arbitrator in terms o f the letter and spirit of the Clause 34 of the Agreement. In the above view of the matter, without expressing any opinion on the merit of the dispute between the parties, this miscellaneous application is disposed of w ith the following directions: - i) The existing disputes and differences between the parties as contemplated in the agreement and within the purview of Clause 34 would be referred to arbitrati on in accordance therewith within a period of ten (10) days herefrom. ii) Meanwhile, the Chairman, Airport Authority of India, New Delhi would appoint the sole Arbitrator as per Clause 34 of the contract agreement and notify the o pposite party thereof forthwith. iii) The appointed Arbitrator would complete the arbitration proceedings denovo in accordance with law within a period of four (4) months from the date of his e ntering the reference. The miscellaneous application stands disposed in the above terms. No costs.