Mr.N.Purushothman, S/O.Mr.Natesan, v. Mr.E.Somasundaram, S/O. Late Mr.Elumalai,

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 31..10..2023 Coram THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.SATHISH KUMAR O.P.No.170 of 2020 & O.A.No.490 of 2019 A.No.5635 of 2019 N.Purushothaman S/o Mr.Natesan, No.34, Dr.Murugesan Street, Athur Vadapathi, Athur Post, Chengalpattu Taluk, Kancheepuram District.

..... Petitioner -VersusE.Somasundaram, S/o late Mr.Elumalai, No.28-A, 2nd Street, Mallika Garden, Mettumanagar, Madhavaram, Chennai 600 060.

..... Respondents Petition filed under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, praying to appoint any competent person as the Sole Arbitrator to resolve the dispute between the petitioner and the respondent with regard to performance of contract as per the terms of the Agreement of Sale entered into between the petitioner and the respondent herein on 15.07.2018.

For Petitioner : Mr.N.Ganesh For Respondent : Mr.K.Chandrasekaran

ORDER

This original petition has been filed seeking appointment of Arbitrator to resolve the dispute arose between the petitioner and the respondent in respect of performance of agreement of sale entered into between the parties on 15.07.2018.

2. The said original petition was filed along with original application in O.A.No.490 of 2019 for interim injunction. This court on 29.04.2019 passed the following order:- "7. That the respondent is hereby restrained from alienating or encumbering the property in question by selling it or creating a mortgage till 06.06.2019. Notice to the respondent returnable by then. Private Notice permitted. Post on 06.06.2019."

The said order was periodically extended from time to time. While so, the petitioner has filed a contempt petition in Cont.P.No.207 of 2021 alleging that the respondents are liable to be punished for having violated the interim order of injunction of this court dated 29.04.2019 and periodically extended on 24.06.2019, 11.07.2019 and 29.07.2019. Pending said contempt petition and

the original petition, the petitioner has come forward with another contempt petition in Cont.P.No.702 of 2022 alleging that the respondent is liable to be punished for having violated the interim order of injunction of this court dated 29.04.2019, extended on 24.06.2019, 11.07.2019, 29.07.2019 and 05.09.2019 and subsequently, extended until further orders in O.A.No.490 of 2019.

3. As the interim orders of injunction was originally passed by Justice R.Suresh Kumar, the contempt petitions were listed before him. It is seen from the records that pending original petition and contempt petitions, it was submitted by the learned counsel on either side before Justice R.Suresh Kumar that the parties had arrived at a settlement between themselves amicably and reduced the terms into writing. The compromise entered into between the parties dated 11.10.2023 was also filed in court. On 11.10.2023, Justice R.Suresh Kumar was pleased to direct the Registry to place the papers before the Hon'ble Chief Justice for orders as to the tagging of contempt petitions along with Original Petition No.170 of 2020 for combined disposal. Accordingly, the Hon'ble Chief Justice was pleased to direct the contempt petition to be listed along with original petition by order dated 19.10.2023. The order passed by Justice R.Suresh Kumar on 11.10.2023 reads as under:-

"Pursuant to earlier orders, as the parties had decided to enter into compromise to give a quietus to the issue in the main OP itself and also to purchase peace in view of the present two contempt petitions, today when the contempt petitions are taken up for hearing, the learned respective counsel appearing for the parties have submitted that, all the parties in these two contempt petitions have entered into a compromise, which in fact has been reduced in writing under the heading 'Memo of Compromise entered into among the Parties', dated 11.10.2023.

2. The original memo has been filed before this Court where all the parties i.e., the petitioner in both the contempt petitions, respondents 1 and 2 in C.P.No.702 of 2022 and 2 nd respondent in C.P.No.207 of 2021 along with the respective counsel have signed in the memo .

3. The compromise memo entered under various terms which has been stated in the memo itself.

4. If this compromise memo is recorded, in my view, that will give quietus to the very Original Petition itself.

5. However, the OP is to be disposed only by the Hon'ble Judge as per Roster as I have been dealing with only these two contempt petitions. Assuming that, if the compromise memo is recorded in these contempt petitions, the OP which is pending still to be considered and decided.

6. In this context, the learned counsel appearing for the parties have made an appeal before this Court that, the matter can be referred for the purpose of taking the OP along with these contempt petitions for recording the compromise dated 11 th October, 2023 as mentioned above combinedly in all these petitions i.e., two Contempt Petitions as well as one OP, so that a complete quietus can be ensured, which enable the parties to proceed in accordance with the compromise memo.

7. In view of the above, the Registry is directed to place these papers before the Hon'ble Chief Justice for orders as to whether the OP can be tagged along with these contempt petitions for combined disposal, in view of the facts and circumstances discussed herein above. The Registry may take urgent steps to do the needful as indicated above.

That is how, the contempt petitions have been listed before this court and separate orders will be passed in the contempt petition.

4. Today, the learned counsel on either side bringing to the notice of this court about the compromise entered into between the parties prayed that the original petition may be disposed of recording the compromise.

5. I have gone through the terms of compromise. The petitioner and the respondent were present. I have verified with the parties. They affirmed the compromise. I do not find any illegality or arbitrariness to doubt the compromise and the compromise reached between them is recorded. The terms of compromise read as follows:-

6. In the light of the above, the original petition stands disposed of in terms of the memo of compromise. The memo of compromise entered into between the petitioner and the respondent shall form part and parcel of this order. Since the Original Petition has been disposed of in terms of compromise entered into between the parties, the encumbrance reflected on the basis of the interim orders of this court 'not to register any document with regard to the property in question' is directed to be removed by the Sub Registrar, Madhavaram. Both parties shall bear their respective costs. Consequently, connected Original Application and Application are closed. 31..10..2023 Index : yes / no : yes / no Speaking / Non Speaking Order kmk

N.SATHISH KUMAR.J., kmk O.P.No.170 of 2020 31..10..2023