Mr. Manoj Kumar Thakur v. Irrigation And Flood Control Department Govt Of NCT Of Delhi

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+ ARB.P. 712/2025 MR. MANOJ KUMAR THAKUR .....Petitioner Through:

Mr.

Avinash Trivedi, Mr.

Rahul Aggarwal, Advs.

versus IRRIGATION AND FLOOD CONTROL DEPARTMENT GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI .....Respondent Through:

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASMEET SINGH

O R D E R

% 20.05.2025 1.

This is a petition filed under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seeking appointment of an arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties, arising out of an Acceptance Letter dated 28.01.2022.

2.

Pursuant to the said acceptance letter, the respondent awarded the work of construction of strom water drain parallel to supplementary drains including out falling drain between Hero Honda Phirni and Rithala Bus Stand Phirni in Rithala AC-06 to the petitioner vide the said acceptance letter on contractual amount of Rs.32,23,566/-. 3.

The said acceptance letter is subject to GCC containing an arbitration clause, being Clause No. 25, which reads as under: "CLAUSE 25 Settlement of Disputes by Conciliation & Arbitration Except where otherwise provided in the contract, all questions and disputes relating to the meaning of the specifications, designs, drawings and instructions The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

hereinbefore mentioned and as to the quality of workmanship or materials used in the work or as to any other question, claim , right, matter or thing whatsoever in any way arising out of or relating to the contract, designs, drawings, specifications, estimates, instructions, orders or otherwise concerning the works or the execution or failure to execute the same whether arising during the progress of the work or after the cancellation, termination, completion or abandonment thereof shall be dealt with as mentioned hereinafter:

(i) If the contractor considers any work demanded of him to be outside the requirements of the contract, or disputes any drawing, record or decision given in writing by the Engineer-in-Charge or if the Engineer-in-Charge considers any act or decision of the contractor on any matter in connection with or arising out of the contract or carrying out of the work, to be unacceptable and is disputed; such party shall promptly within 15 days of the arising of the dispute request the Chief Engineer/CPM, or where there is no Chief Engineer/CPM, the Additional Director General / Special Director General (CE/ADG/SDG) who shall refer the disputes to Dispute Redressal Committee (DRC) within 15 days along with a list of disputes with amounts claimed if any in respect of each such dispute.

The Dispute Redressal Committee (DRC) give its decision within a period of 60 days extendable by 30 days by consent of both the parties from the receipt of reference from CE/CPM/ADG/SDG. The constitution of Dispute Redressal Committee (DRC) shall be as indicated in Schedule 'F'. Provided that no party shall be represented before the Dispute Redressal Committee by an advocate/legal counsel etc.

The DRC will submit its decision to the concerned ADG/SDG for acceptance. ADG/SDG in a time limit of 30 days from receipt of DRC decision will convey acceptance or otherwise on the said decision. If the Dispute Redressal Committee (DRC) fails to give its The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

decision within the aforesaid period or the ADG/SDG fails to give his acceptance in the aforesaid time limit or any party is dissatisfied with the decision of Dispute Redressal Committee (DRC) ADG/SDG, then either party may within a period of 30 days from the receipt of the decision of Dispute Redressal Committee (DRC) ADG/SDG or on expiry of aforesaid the time limits available to DRC/ADG/SDG may give notice to the Chief Engineer/CPM in charge of the work or if there be no Chief Engineer/CPM, the Additional Director General/ Special Director General of the concerned region of I&FC or if there be no Additional Director General/ Special Director General, CE I&FC for appointment of arbitrator on prescribed proforma as per Appendix XVII under intimation to the other party.

It is a term of contract that each party invoking arbitration must exhaust the aforesaid mechanism of settlement of claims/disputes prior to invoking arbitration.

The CE/CPM/ADG/ SDG shall in such case appoint the sole arbitrator or one of the three arbitrators as the case may be within 30 days of receipt of such a request and refer such disputes to arbitration. Wherever the Arbitral Tribunal consists of three Arbitrators, the contractor shall appoint one arbitrator within 30 days of making request for arbitration or of receipt of request by Engineer-in-charge to CE / ADG/ SDG /DG for appointment of arbitrator, as the case may be, and two appointed arbitrators shall appoint the third arbitrator who shall act as the Presiding Arbitrator. In the event of (a) A party fails to appoint the second Arbitrator, or (b) The two appointed Arbitrators fail to appoint the Presiding Arbitrator, then the Director General, CPWD shall appoint the second or Presiding Arbitrator as the case may be.

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(ii) Dispute or difference shall be referred for adjudication through arbitration by a Tribunal having sole arbitrator where claimed amount is Rs. 20 Crore or less. Where claimed Value is more than Rs. 20 Crore, Tribunal shall consist of three Arbitrators as above. The requirements of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of 1996) and any further statutory modification or re-enactment thereof and the rules made there under and for the time being in force shall be applicable. It is a term of this contract that the party invoking arbitration shall give a list of disputes with amounts claimed, if any, in respect of each such dispute along with the notice for appointment of arbitrator and giving reference to the decision of the ADG/ SDG on the finding / recommendation of DRC.

It is also a term of this contract that member(s) of the Arbitration Tribunal shall be a Graduate Engineer with experience in handling public works engineering contracts, and further he shall have earlier worked at a level not lower than Chief Engineer/ equivalent (i.e. Joint Secretary level of Government of India). This shall be treated as a mandatory qualification to be appointed as arbitrator.

Parties, before or at the time of appointment of Arbitral Tribunal may agree in writing for fast-track arbitration as per the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of 1996) as amended in 2015.

Subject to provision in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of 1996) as amended in 2015 whereby the counter claims if any can be directly filed before the arbitrator without any requirement of reference by the appointing authority. The arbitrator shall adjudicate on only such disputes as are referred to him by the appointing authority and give separate award against each dispute and claim referred to him and in all cases where the total amount of the claims by any party The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

exceeds Rs. 1,00,000/-, the arbitrator shall give reasons for the award.

It is also a term of the contract that fees payable to arbitral tribunal shall be as approved by DG, OM issued vide no.2/2006/SE(TLC)/CSQ /137 dated 19-11-2019 (or its latest amendment as approved by DG). This fee shall be shared equally by parties.

The place of arbitration shall be as mentioned in Schedule F. In case there is no mention of place of arbitration, the arbitral tribunal shall determine the place of arbitration.

The venue of the arbitration shall be such place as may be fixed by the Arbitral Tribunal in consultation with both the parties. Failing any such agreement, then the Arbitral Tribunal shall decide the venue."

4.

In terms of Clause No. 25, the petitioner wrote letters dated 24.11.2023, 19.12.2023, 19.01.2024, 18.03.2024, 11.06.2024 requesting for conciliation of disputes through the mentioned mechanism.

5.

After various requests by the petitioner, as per the terms of Clause No. 25, finally the DRC was constituted and intimated vide letter dated 19.11.2024 but the DRC did not fix any date for hearing or adjudicated the disputes raised by the petitioner. 6.

Therefore, the petitioner sent final notice on 06.02.2025 and thereafter, filed the present petition.

7.

Mr. Abhinav Garg, learned counsel for the respondent, sought time to file a reply on the last date of hearing. However, neither any reply has been filed nor there is anyone appearing on behalf of the respondent today.

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8.

I am satisfied that the petitioner has duly complied with the terms of Clause No. 25 of the GCC and since the claims/disputes are subsisting between the parties, an arbitrator needs to be appointed to adjudicate the same.

9.

For the said reasons, the petition is allowed and the following directions are issued:- i) Mr. Gaurav Barati, Advocate (Mob. No. 9810526981) is appointed as a Sole Arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties.

ii) The arbitration will be held under the aegis and rules of the Delhi International Arbitration Centre, Delhi High Court, Sher Shah Road, New Delhi (hereinafter, referred to as the 'DIAC').

iii) The remuneration of the learned Arbitrator shall be in terms of DIAC (Administrative Cost and Arbitrators' Fees) Rules, 2018.

iv) The learned Arbitrator is requested to furnish a declaration in terms of Section 12 of the Act prior to entering into the reference.

v) It is made clear that all the rights and contentions of the parties, including as to the arbitrability of any of the claim, any other preliminary objection, as well as claims/counter-claims and merits of the dispute of either of the parties, are left open for adjudication by the learned arbitrator.

vi) The parties shall approach the learned Arbitrator The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

within two weeks from today.

10.

The present petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. JASMEET SINGH, J MAY 20, 2025/sp Click here to check corrigendum, if any The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.