Case: Saurabh Kalani Vs. Tata Finance Limited &amp; Another

been used interchangeably in SICA. Therefore. the reasons which persuaded this Court to give the same meaning to two different words in a statute cannot be applied here." (emphasis supplied)The Court, then, after noticing the judgment in Pandurang vs. Shantibai and certain other decisions observed as follows: "25. Having regard to the judicial interpretation of the word suit, it is difficult to accede to the submission of the appellants that the word suit in section 22(1) of the Act means anything other than some form of curial process." "26. Apart from the semantic difference between the words suit and proceeding there is the absence of expansive words or the like which appear after the expression proceedings, after the word suit. The exclusion of such omnibus expression after the word suit must be given some weight in interpreting the word. As held by this Court in LIC vs. Escorts Ltd. (supra) :"The distinction made by Parliament ....... in the several provisions of the same Act cannot be ignored or strained to be explained away by us. That is not the way to interpret statutes. The proper way is to give due weight to the use as well as the omission to use the qualifying words in different provisions of the Act the significance of the use of the qualifying word in one provision and its non-use in another provision may not be disregarded." "27. Since the Legislature has expressly chosen to make a distinction between the suits for recovery of the money and enforcement of guarantees and proceedings for the recovery of money, that must be given effect to." "28. Furthermore, the Parliament must be taken to be aware of the decision in Maharashtra Tubes and the fact that the word proceeding used in Section 22(1) had been widely construed to include proceedings for recovery of dues by State Financial Corporation as arrears of land revenue. The deliberate choice of word suit in the circumstances would indicate that Parliament intended to limit the ambit of the amendment introduced to particular modes for the recovery of money or enforcement of guarantees." (emphasis supplied)23. The Court further observed in Kailash Nath in paragraph 30 of the judgment as follows: "We have been unable to find a corresponding reason for widening the scope of the word suit so as to cover proceedings against the guarantor of an industrial company. The object for enacting the SICA and for introducing the 1994 amendment was to facilitate the rehabilitation or the winding up of sick industrial companies. It is not the stated object of the Act to protect any other person or body. If the creditor enforces the guarantee in respect of the loan granted to the industrial company, we do not see how the provisions of the Act would be rendered nugatory or in any way affected. All that could happen would be that the guarantor would step into the shoes of the creditor vis-a-vis the company to the extent of the liability met." 24. In the light of the decision in Kailash Nath Agarwal (supra), it would be totally impermissible to hold that even proceedings under the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 would be covered by the provisions of SICA. Mr. Chinoy, however, placed heavy reliance on the decision of the Supreme Court in Patel Roadways (supra). That was the case where the Court was considering the question whether the well established principles of law incorporated in Section 9 of the Carriers Act are applicable in a proceedings before the Consumer Disputes Redressal Agency, particularly the National Commission. The Court noted from the conspectus of views taken in the decisions of different High Courts that the liability of a common carrier under the carriers Act is that of an insurer, and this position is further made clear by provisions of Section 9 in which it is specifically laid down that in a case of claim of damage for loss to or deterioration of goods entrusted to a carrier it is not necessary for the Plaintiff to establish negligence. The Court after noticing the definition of "suit" in P. Ramanatha Aiyars Law lexicon 1997 Edition observed in paragraph 49 as follows: "49. From the above it is clear that the term "suit" is a generic term taking within its sweep all proceedings initiated by a party for realisation of a right vested in him under law. The meaning of the term "suit" also depends on the context of its user which in turn. amongst other things, depends on the Act or the Rule in which it is used. No doubt the proceedings before a National Commission is ordinarily a summary proceeding and in an appropriate case where the Commission feels that the issues raised by the parties are too contentious to be decided in a summary proceeding it may refer the parties to a civil Court. That does not mean that the proceeding before the Commission is to be decided ignoring the express statutory provisions of the Carriers Act (S.9) in a proceedings in which a claim is made against a common carrier as defined in the said Act. Accepting such a contention would defeat the object and purpose for which the Consumer Protection Act was enacted. A proceeding before the National Commission, in our considered view, comes within the term "suit" Accordingly we reject the contention raised by Shri Ashok Desai in this regard." (emphasis supplied)The above observations of the Supreme Court make it clear that the meaning of the term "suit" depends on the context of its user which in turn amongst other things, depends on the Act or the Rule in which it is used. In the context of the provisions of Section 22 of SICA and also keeping in mind the intention of the legislature in amending the Section, it is not possible to accept the submission of Mr. Chinoy that the arbitration proceedings under the Arbitration Act, 1996 are covered by the term "suit" used in Section 22(1) of the SICA.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]8.In the light of the decided cases, it is abundantly clear that in considering the question as to whether a Judge or an arbitrator, is liable to be disqualified in the fact of a given case on the ground of bias the test to be applied is whether the circumstances are such as would lead a fair minded and informed observer to conclude that there was a real possibility that the Judge or Tribunal was biased. In the application under Section 12, only allegations that are made against the arbitrator were that the arbitrator was an advocate engaged by the Respondent No.1 or his sister concern in various matters. Then, it is also alleged that the arbitrator has very close relations with the Claimants. The arbitrator has categorically stated that save and except acting as an arbitrator for few matters of Tata Finance Ltd. i.e. Respondent No.1. he had never acted as advocate for the Respondent No.1, in any matter or proceedings. During the course of hearing further affidavit was filed on behalf of the Appellant stating that upon inquiries he has been reliably informed that the arbitrator was originally practising as a Company Secretary to the Company known as Tata International Ltd. This allegation was not made at any stage before the arbitrator. It appears that the learned single Judge called upon the learned Counsel for the Respondent No.1 to take specific instructions and inform the Court whether as a matter of fact the arbitrator had served as a company Secretary of Tata International Ltd. The learned Counsel appearing for the arbitrator has stated before the Court that between the years 1981 to 1987 the arbitrator was the Head of the Legal Department of Tata International Ltd. However, the arbitrator ceased to be in the service of Tata International Ltd. in 1987 and thereafter he has been practising as an advocate before this Court. It is an admitted position that Tata International Ltd. is an independent entity and duly registered under the Companies Act, 1986. Before us the ground that the arbitrator was biased as he had appeared in some of the Tata Group of companies was not even pressed. It is, however, urged that the arbitrator failed in his duty in disclosing the crucial fact that he was in the employment of the Tata Group of companies during the period from 1981 to 1987. The question is whether any right thinking person knowing of the connection of the arbitrator with the Tata International Ltd. would feel that there was any real possibility of bias in his case. The fact that the Arbitrator ceased from the employment of the Tata International Ltd. nearly 15 years back would make an allegation of bias clearly untenable. In Locabails case the Court has observed that "The greater the passage of time between the event relied on a showing a danger of bias and the case in which the objection is raised, the weaker (other things being equal) the objection willlearned single Judge has summed up the position in followingam of the view in the present case, there were no justifiable doubts as regards the independence and impartiality of the Arbitrator. The apprehension of bias does not arise out of any alleged connection or interest of the Arbitrator in the affairs of the Claimant. The Arbitrator has had no such affiliation, contact or interest with the Claimant, least of all in the dispute with the Petitioner. The employment of the Arbitrator with Tata International Limited ended over twelve years prior to the reference. Employment in the distant past with another public company, albeit in the same group, was not such as would warrant the invocation of the circumstances spelt out in Section 12. The Arbitrator is a member of the Bar for over fifteen years now since he ceased to be in the service of Tata International Limited. A professional in the legal profession, who discharges the role of an Arbitrator is expected to bring to his task a sense of objectivity and a high degree of dispassionateness. No facts have been placed before the Court in these proceedings which would lead it to believe that this expectation has beenare entirely in agreement with the conclusion of the learned single Judge that no right thinking person knowing of the connection of the arbitrator, would feel that there was any possibility of bias in this case.In our opinion, the issue virtually stands concluded by the recent pronouncement of the Supreme Court in Kailash Nath Agarwalors. Vs. Pradeshiya IndustrialInvestment Corporation of U.P. Ltd.Anr., 2003 (2) SCALE 169. The question which fell for consideration of the Court was whether the word "suit" in Section 22(1) should be understood to include any proceedings including the proceedings under U.P. Public Demands (Recovery of Dues) Act, 1972. The Court noted the distinction between the expression "proceeding" and "suit" in paragraph 20 of theThere is an apparent distinction between the expression "proceeding" and "suit" used in Section 22(1). While it is true that two different words may be used in the same statute to convey the same meaning, that is the exception rather than the rule. The general rule is that when two different words are used by the same statute, prima facie one has to construe these different words as carrying different meanings. In Kanhaiyalal Vishnidas Gidwani (supra) this Court found that words subscribed and signed had been used in the Representation of People Act, 1951 interchangeably and, therefore, in that context the Court came to the conclusion that when the Legislature used the word subscribed it did not intend anything more than signing. The words suit and proceeding have not been used interchangeably in SICA. Therefore. the reasons which persuaded this Court to give the same meaning to two different words in a statute cannot be applied here." (emphasisIn the light of the decision in Kailash Nath Agarwal (supra), it would be totally impermissible to hold that even proceedings under the ArbitrationConciliation Act, 1996 would be covered by the provisions of SICA., however, placed heavy reliance on the decision of the Supreme Court in Patel Roadways (supra).That was the case where the Court was considering the question whether the well established principles of law incorporated in Section 9 of the Carriers Act are applicable in a proceedings before the Consumer Disputes Redressal Agency, particularly the National Commission. The Court noted from the conspectus of views taken in the decisions of different High Courts that the liability of a common carrier under the carriers Act is that of an insurer, and this position is further made clear by provisions of Section 9 in which it is specifically laid down that in a case of claim of damage for loss to or deterioration of goods entrusted to a carrier it is not necessary for the Plaintiff to establish negligence. The Court after noticing the definition of "suit" in P. Ramanatha Aiyars Law lexicon 1997 Edition observed in paragraph 49 asFrom the above it is clear that the term "suit" is a generic term taking within its sweep all proceedings initiated by a party for realisation of a right vested in him under law. The meaning of the term "suit" also depends on the context of its user which in turn. amongst other things, depends on the Act or the Rule in which it is used. No doubt the proceedings before a National Commission is ordinarily a summary proceeding and in an appropriate case where the Commission feels that the issues raised by the parties are too contentious to be decided in a summary proceeding it may refer the parties to a civil Court. That does not mean that the proceeding before the Commission is to be decided ignoring the express statutory provisions of the Carriers Act (S.9) in a proceedings in which a claim is made against a common carrier as defined in the said Act. Accepting such a contention would defeat the object and purpose for which the Consumer Protection Act was enacted. A proceeding before the National Commission, in our considered view, comes within the term "suit" Accordingly we reject the contention raised by Shri Ashok Desai in this regard." (emphasis supplied)The above observations of the Supreme Court make it clear that the meaning of the term "suit" depends on the context of its user which in turn amongst other things, depends on the Act or the Rule in which it is used. In the context of the provisions of Section 22 of SICA and also keeping in mind the intention of the legislature in amending the Section, it is not possible to accept the submission of Mr. Chinoy that the arbitration proceedings under the Arbitration Act, 1996 are covered by the term "suit" used in Section 22(1) of the SICA.