Express Food Services v. Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation Limited
$~13 *
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ ARB.P. 1699/2025 EXPRESS FOOD SERVICES .....Petitioner Through:
Mr. Akshat Bajpai, Mr. Shobhit Trehan, Ms. Renuka Parmanand, Mr. Atul Pandey, Ms.
Vedika Dalmia, Ms. Jayashree Mishra, Advs.
versus INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LIMITED .....Respondent Through:
Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, Adv.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASMEET SINGH
O R D E R
% 26.11.2025 1.
This is a petition filed under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking appointment of an Arbitrator for adjudication of disputes between the parties. 1(a) The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner provides onboard catering services to various trains in India. The respondent floated various tenders to operate and provide onboard catering services on different trains running across India. The petitioner vide Letter of Awards was awarded the contract of operating catering services onboard different trains from the year 2021 to 2024. The Master Licence Agreements and Tripartite Agreements were executed between the petitioner, Zonal Railway and the respondent. 2.
The petitioner was providing catering services on 20 trains and the details of the Master License Agreements are as under:- The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
3.
Even though the clause number of the arbitration clause in all the tender documents is different, as is evident from the above said chart, the same are identical and read as under:- "a. In the event of any dispute or difference between the parties hereto as to the construction or operation of this contract or the respective right and liability of the parties on any matter in question, with reference to the contract, the Parties agree to use their best efforts to attempt to resolve all disputes in prompt, equitable and good faith. In the event the Parties are unable to do so, such party may submit demand in writing for reference of dispute to arbitration as prescribed herein.
b. The parties hereto further agree to submit demand in writing that the dispute/differences be referred to arbitration along with format annexed hereto as Annexure-XIV. The demand for arbitration shall specified the matters which are in question, or subject of dispute or differences as also the amount of claim item wise.
c. Only such dispute or differences, in respect of which the demand has been made, together with counter claims of setoff given by IRCTC shall be referred to arbitration and other matters shall not included in the reference.
In the event of demand made as mention herein above, such The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
dispute or difference arising under any of these conditions or in connection with this contract (except as to any matters the decision of which is specially provided by these or the special conditions) shall be referred to Sole Arbitrator from the panel of Arbitrators appointed by Chairman and Managing Director of IRCTC. The award of arbitrator shall be final and binding on the parties to this contract. The venue of the Arbitration shall be at New Delhi. The fees and expenses of the Arbitration tribunal and all other expenses of the Arbitration shall be borne jointly by the Parties in equal proportion in terms of circular dated 18.10.2019."
4.
The respondent, vide different letters, levied fine upon the petitioner for deficiency of service. One such letter reads as under:- The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
5.
Since there were disputes between the parties, the petitioner invoked arbitration vide legal notice dated 10.06.2024 and thereafter filed the present petition.
6.
Mr. Bajpai, learned counsel for the petitioner, states that the relationship with Zonal Railway has expired and the Agreement now is only between the petitioner and respondent. 7.
Ms. Malhotra, learned counsel for the respondent, opposes the claims of the petitioner and states that that the respondent will raise counterclaims. She further states that the claims of the petitioner may be treated as separate references.
8.
I am satisfied that there exists a valid arbitration clause and there are disputes between the parties which need to be adjudicated through the arbitral mechanism.
9.
Since the parties are same, the issue is identical, namely, fine imposed by the respondent, all the claims of the petitioner shall be tried as one reference. The disputes between the parties are referred to one common Arbitrator.
10.
For the said reasons, the petition is allowed and the following directions are issued:- i) Mr.
Sanjeev Jain (Retd.
District Judge) (Mob.
No.
9910384720) 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').
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
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 within two weeks from today.
11.
The present petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. JASMEET SINGH, J NOVEMBER 26, 2025 / (MS) The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.