Mr. Amol Anil Varkhade v. M/S Royal Infra Corporation Thr Its Partners.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION ARBITRATION PETITION NO. 2 OF 2026 Amol Anil Varkhade

...Petitioner

Versus

M/s. Royal Infra Corporation & Anr.

...Respondents

Mr. Viraj Hake for the Petitioner.

Mr. Govind B. Solanke a/w Mr. Ajay Badode for the Respondents.

CORAM

: SOMASEKHAR SUNDARESAN, J.

DATE : FEBRUARY 17, 2026 ORDER :

1.

This Petition has been filed under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ("the Act"), seeking appointment of an arbitrator in connection with disputes and differences between the parties.

2.

There are three agreements involved. The first is a Work Order dated September 11, 2023, which contains an arbitration clause with Aurangabad as the venue. On September 27, 2023, the parties reduced to writing their relationship in a Memorandum of Understanding, and also executed an Escrow Account Agreement. There

is an arbitration clause in each of the subsequent instruments. In the Escrow Agreement, the place of arbitration is left blank while in the Memorandum of Understanding, the place of arbitration is depicted as Pune. In the interest of brevity, the arbitration agreements are not being extracted here. Suffice it to say that this matter falls within the jurisdiction of this Court.

3.

The Learned Advocate for the Respondents raises two-fold objections. First that the original Work Order referred to Aurangabad, and therefore, the dispute should go to Aurangabad. This objection is not found acceptable inasmuch as the Memorandum of Understanding, which is a subsequent document between the same parties on the same subject matter, has positively elected for Pune as the venue of arbitration. This may be treated as a firm revised choice by the parties. 4.

The second objection on behalf of the Respondents is that the text of the arbitration clause would indicate that the parties may, by mutual agreement, opt for mediation or arbitration, and therefore, there is one more stage of accepting or rejecting the arbitration agreement, rendering the clause as not being a binding arbitration agreement. This, to my mind, is not an acceptable submission. The parties evidently

decided to go in for an alternate dispute resolution mechanism, the option for subsequent choice is between mediation and arbitration. 5.

Therefore, the agreement between the parties to agree later is whether they would mediate or directly proceed to arbitration. The invocation notice has been issued on November 4, 2025 and has not been responded to till date. In these circumstances, with Pune as a seat of arbitration, an Arbitral Tribunal is hereby appointed in the following terms :- A) Justice (Retd.) Mr. Sadashiv S. Deshmukh, a former judge of the District Court, is hereby appointed as the Sole Arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes and differences between the parties arising out of and in connection with the Agreement referred to above; Office Address:- 403, Jupiter, Gawand Baugh, Building No. 9, Pokharan Road No. 2, Upvan, Thane (West) - 400610.

Email ID:

ssadashiv07@gmail.com B) A copy of this Order will be communicated to the Learned Sole Arbitrator by the Advocates for the

Petitioner/Applicant within a period of one week from the date of upload of this order.

The Petitioner/Applicant shall provide the contact and communication particulars of the parties to the Arbitral Tribunal along with a copy of this Order; C) The Learned Sole Arbitrator is requested to forward the statutory Statement of Disclosure under Section 11(8) read with Section 12(1) of the Act to the parties within a period of two weeks from receipt of a copy of this Order;

D) The parties shall appear before the Learned Sole Arbitrator on such date and at such place as indicated, to obtain appropriate directions with regard to conduct of the arbitration including fixing a schedule for pleadings, examination of witnesses, if any, schedule of hearings etc. At such meeting, the parties shall provide a valid and functional email address along with mobile and landline numbers of the respective Advocates of the parties to the Arbitral Tribunal. Communications to such email addresses

shall constitute valid service of correspondence in connection with the arbitration;

E) All arbitral costs and fees of the Arbitral Tribunal shall be borne by the parties equally in the first instance, and shall be subject to any final Award that may be passed by the Tribunal in relation to costs.

6.

Needless to say, nothing contained in this order is an expression of an opinion on merits of the matter or the relative strength of the parties. All issues on merits are expressly kept open to be agitated before the arbitral tribunal appointed hereby. 7.

Reply affidavit has also been filed by the Respondents depicting the aforesaid objections. The same is taken on record. 8.

All actions required to be taken pursuant to this order shall be taken upon receipt of a downloaded copy as available on this Court's website.

[ SOMASEKHAR SUNDARESAN, J.]