M/S Shah Construction Thr Its Proprietor Mr Rajesh Shah v. Union Of India Represented By Chief Engineer R And D

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION IN ITS COMMERCIAL DIVISION COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION PETITION NO. 55 OF 2025 M/S Shah Construction Through Its Proprietor Mr Rajesh Shah

...Petitioner

Versus

Union Of India Represented By Chief Engineer R And D

...Respondent

Mr. Shon Gadgil, a/w Pradeep Mahajan, for the Petitioner. Ms. Apurva Gupte, a/w Krishnakant Deshmukh, for Respondent.

CORAM

: SOMASEKHAR SUNDARESAN, J.

DATE : JANUARY 27, 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 that are said to have arisen between the parties under an agreement dated October 25, 2021 ("Agreement"). The arbitration agreement is contained in Clause 70 (found at Page 31 of the Petition). In the interest of brevity, the arbitration agreement is not being extracted here. Suffice it to say that this matter falls within the jurisdiction of this Court.

2.

Learned Advocate for the Respondent has no quarrel with proceeding to arbitration and with picking one of the names suggested by the Respondent.

3.

In these circumstances, this order does not need to be burdened with factual details in the matter. Taking on board the consent of the parties, the arbitral tribunal is hereby constituted in the following terms:- A) Shri. Rakesh Kumar Agrawal, ADG (Retd) CPWD, 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;

Mobile No. :- 7542030167 Email ID:

rkagrawal1958@gmail.com B) A copy of this Order will be communicated to the Learned Sole Arbitrator by the Advocates for the Petitioner within a period of one week from the date of upload of this order. The Petitioner 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.

4.

This Petition is finally disposed of in the aforesaid terms. 5.

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. 6.

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.]