CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR & 2....Respondent(s) Appearance: MS KAVITA B GAJJAR, ADVOCATE for the Petitioner(s) No. 1 1.3 MS MINOO A SHAH, ADVOCATE for the Respondent(s) No. 1 2 NOTICE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 3 Date : 18/08/2017 ORAL ORDER 1. The petitioners have filed this petition seeking appointment of an arbitrator to resolve the disputes between the petitioners and the respondent Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. ['HPCL' for short]. 2. Facts are as under: Petitioner No.1 is a partnership firm. Rest of the petitioners are partners. The firm was given a dealership contract by respondent HPCL for which, dealership agreement was executed by the parties on 29.09.2015. The letter agreement contains an arbitration clause in following terms: "68. Any dispute or difference of any nature whatsoever or Page 1 of 8 HCNIC Page 1 of 8 Created On Fri Sep 15 23:00:49 IST 2017 O/IAAP/57/2017 ORDER regarding any right, liability, Act omission or account of any of the parties hereto arising out of or in relation to this agreement (other than those in respect of which the decision of any person, is by the agreement expressed to be final and binding) shall be referred to the sole arbitration of the chairman and Managing Director of the Corporation or of some officer/Retired Officer of the Corporation or Retired officer of other Oil PSUs or Retired Senior Central Govt. Officer Who May be Nominated by the Chairman and Managing Director. The Dealer will not be entitled to raise any objection to any such arbitrator on the ground that the Arbitrator is or was an officer and/or share holder of the corporation or that he has to deal with or dealt with the matters to which the contract relates or that in the course of his duties as an officer of the Corporation he had expressed views on all or any of the matters in dispute or difference. In the event of the arbitrator to whom the matter is originally referred vacating his office or being unable to act for any reason the Chairman and Managing Director as aforesaid at the time of such vacation of office or inability to Act, shall designate another person to act as Arbitrator. In accordance with the terms of the agreement such person shall be entitled to proceed with the reference from the point at which it was left by his predecessor. It is also a term of this contract that no person other than the chairman and Managing Director or a persons nominated by such Chairman and Managing Director of the Corporation as aforesaid shall act as Arbitrator hereunder. The cost of arbitration shall be shacked equally by the parties. The award of the arbitrator so appointed shall be final, conclusive and binding on all parties to the agreement, subject to the provisions of or reenactment thereof and the rules made thereunder and for the time being in force shall apply to the arbitration proceedings under this clause." 3. The respondents, upon inspection of the petrol pump of the petitioners, found short delivery. After granting hearing to the petitioners, an order was passed on 25.09.2016 terminating the dealership of the petitioners. The petitioners have filed Special Page 2 of 8 HCNIC Page 2 of 8 Created On Fri Sep 15 23:00:49 IST 2017 O/IAAP/57/2017 ORDER Civil Application No. 16976 of 20