Naresh Paper Bhandar v. Horizon Packs Private Limited

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION APPLICATION NO.391 OF 2025 M/s Naresh Paper Bhandar ...Applicant

Versus

Horizon Packs Private Limited ....Respondent Mr. Anuj Jhaveri a/w. Mihir Modi i/b. Anuj Jhaveri & Monish Surendran, Advocates for Applicant.

Mr Renjith Nair a/w. Abhishek Mookharjee i/b. Shardu Mangaldas, Advocates for Respondent.

CORAM: SOMASEKHAR SUNDARESAN, J.

DATE : SEPTEMBER 3, 2025 ORDER :

1.

This Application 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 Purchase Orders dated September 12, 2024 and September 13, 2024 ("Agreements"). The arbitration agreement is contained in Clause 24 (Found at Page Nos.42 & 45 of the Application) of the Agreements. 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.

Considering that there is no dispute about the existence of the arbitration agreement and in fact, the consent of the parties to proceed to arbitration is writ large on the face of the record, no fruitful purpose would be served by keeping the Application pending any further. 3.

In these circumstances, this Application is hereby finally disposed of, in terms of the following order: A] Mr. Bernando Reis, a learned advocate of this 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. The contact details of the Learned Arbitrator are as under :- Office Address:- Office Address - 5A, Bhagyodaya, 79, Nagindas Master Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.

Email ID:

Email - adv.breis@gmail.com B] A copy of this Order will be communicated to the Learned Sole Arbitrator by the Advocates for the Applicant within a period of one week from the date of upload of this order. The 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.

4.

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. 5.

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.]