Calcutta High Court India Media Services Pvt. Ltd vs Sbpl Infrastructure Limited on 1 September, 2023 Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction Present: Hon'ble Justice Shampa Sarkar AP/422/2021 INDIA MEDIA SERVICES PVT. LTD. vs. SBPL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED For the Petitioner : Mr. Ranjan Deb, Sr. Adv. Mr. K.R. Thakkar, Adv. Mr. Pradip Sancheti, Adv. Mr. Siddhartha Chatterjee, Adv. Mr. Deepan Sarkar, Adv. For the Respondent : Ratnanko Banerji, Sr. Adv. Mr. Jishnu Chowdhury, Adv. Mr. Ratul Das, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Khaitan, Adv. Judgment on: 01.09.2023 Shampa Sarkar, J.: 1. The petitioner is the award debtor. This is an application under Section 14 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The petitioner, inter alia, seeks a declaration that the mandate of the arbitrator terminated with effect from August 31, 2020 and the award dated October 27, 2020 was void ab initio. The prayers in the said application are quoted below: "a) A declaration that the mandate of the Learned Arbitrator former Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya (Retired), appointed by an Order dated 28th January 2020 as the Sole Arbitrator in arbitration proceedings between the parties, had terminated on 31st August 2020. b) A declaration that the purported award dated 27th October 2020 passed by the Learned Arbitrator after the termination of his mandate is illegal, void ab initio and non est. c) Stay of operation of the purposed award dated October 27, 2020, pending disposal of the present application. d) Stay of all further proceedings initiated pursuant to making and publishing of the purported award dated 27th October, 2020. e) Adinterim order in terms of the prayers made above; and 2 f) Such further order or orders and/or direction or directions be given as your Lordships may deem fit and proper." 2. The arbitration proceeding was held as per the provision of the unamended Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. 3. The parties had executed a nomination agreement on December 5, 2005 whereby and whereunder the petitioner nominated the respondent in its place and stead, to obtain conveyance of a property being the Indian Express Building situated at Hyderabad, directly from its owner, Express Publication (Madurai) Limited. The petitioner's case is that the respondent failed to obtain the conveyance from Express Publication (Madurai) Limited within the time stipulated in the agreement. Disputes arose between the parties. The disputes were referred to arbitration in terms of the arbitration clause contained in the nomination agreement dated December 5, 2005. 4. The arbitration clause is quoted hereunder: "All disputes and differences by and between the parties relating to, arising out of or concerning the subject matter of this agreement shall be referred to the sole arbitration of Mr. Justice Umesh Chandra Banerjee, Retired Judge of Supreme Court of India in accordance with the arbitration and conciliation Act, 1996 and the decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding on the parties. The venue of arbitration shall be Kolkata. The arbitration proceedings shall be concluded within 60 days from the date of entering into reference. In default the arbitrator shall stand discharged without remuneration and the party shall apply for appointment of new arbitrator on the same terms to the Hon'ble High Court at Calcutta." 5. The arbitration clause provided a time frame of 60 days for conclusion of the proceeding. The arbitration proceeding was not concluded within the stipulated time and the learned named arbitrator published a Nil Award, on termination of mandate. The respondent filed an application before the High 3 Court under Sections 11 and 15 of the said Act of 1996, for appointment of a new arbitrator. 6. By order dated July 20, 2016, Justice Jayanta Kumar Biswas (Retired) was appointed as the sole arbitrator by the High Court. The arbitration proceeding resumed. After considerable progress, the learned arbitrator recused himself from the proceeding on April 4, 2019, in the 115th sitting. 7. AP 435 of 2019 was filed by the respondent before the High Court, for appointment of an arbitrator. By an order dated January 28, 2020, the High Court appointed Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya (Retired), former Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court as the sole arbitrator.