M/S GANGOTRI ENTERPRISES LTD. v. MADHYA PRADESH ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION AND ANR.
vidhipandit.com/case/sc-2018-4-260-262
Headnote — Supreme Court Reports (editorial summary, not part of the judgment)
Catchwords
Madhya Pradesh Madhyastham Adhikaran Adhiniyam, 1983: C s. 2(d) – Expression “ascertained money” occurring in s. 2(d) will include not only the amount already ascertained, but also the amount which may be ascertained during the proceedings. s. 4(3)(iii) – Qualification of Member of Arbitration Tribunal –
Held
An employee of a party to the dispute cannot be an arbitrator D – Therefore, State of Madhya Pradesh not to appoint its employee of the concerned department, as member of the Arbitration Tribunal. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Ors. vs. Raja Transport Private Ltd. (2009) 8 SCC 520 : – relied on. E Case Law Reference [2009] 13 SCR 510 relied on Para 4 CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 4017 of 2018. F From the Judgment and Order dated 15.12.2017 of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Principal Seat, Jabalpur in A. C. No. 71 of 2016. Saurabh Mishra, AAG., Jugal Kishore Gilda, Purushaindra Kumar, Advs. Gen., Naman Nagrath, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Parag Triathi, Ms. Kiran Suri, Sr. Advs., Harsh Parashar, Jubin Prasad, Aman Pandey, G Jasdeep S. Dhillon, Prabhat K. Chaurasia, Ms. Renuka Sahu, Jay Savla, Amar Varun, Shantanu Krishna, Ms. Anusuya Salwan, Dhurav Mishra, Divyanshu Kumar Srivastav, Akash Lamba, Viren Sibal, Vivekananda B., Vikas Sood, Apporv Kurup, Ms. Isha Mital, Dr. Harsh Pathak, Ms. Shweta Mahajan, Mohit Chaubey, Siddharth Shukla, Neeraj Shekhar, Arjun Garg, Mishra Saurabh, Sridhar Potaraju, Sudhir Mishra, Prabhat H 260
Reporter's headnote (continued) and case details
260 [2018]REPORTS SUPREME COURT 4 S.C.R. 260 [2018] 4 S.C.R.
(Civil Appeal No. 4017 of 2018)
M/S GANGOTRI ENTERPRISES LTD. v. MADHYA PRADESH 261 ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Kumar, Ms. Petal Chandok, Ms. Ankita Sharma, Rishabh, M. R. A Shamshad, Aditya Samaddar, B. S. Banthia, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Saurabh S. Sinha, Aditya Dev Triguna, Sunil Singh Parihar, M/S. AP & J Chambers, Prafulla Kumar Behera, Manish K. Bhardwaj, S. S. Nehra, Ms. Anuradha Mishra, Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, Varun Mohan, Swastik Singh, Manish Yadav, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, B.N. Dubey, Ms. B Devika Gulati, Hitendra Nath Rath, Mayank Kshirsagar, Pavesh Joshi, Chavu Ambwani (For M/s. AP & J Chambers), B. K. Satija, Sumit Attri, K. Krishna Kumar, Hitendra Nath Rath, Nilava Bandyopadhayay, Rahul Pandey, Advs. for the appearing parties.
Judgment
The following Order of the Court was passed: C ORDER
11. Leave granted. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
22. Our attention has been drawn to the definition of “dispute” under Section 2(d) of the Madhya Pradesh Madhyastham Adhikaran Adhiniyam, 1983 (“1983 Act”) which is as follows: D “‘dispute’ means claim of ascertained money valued at Rupees 50,000 or more relating to any difference arising out of the execution or non-execution of a works contract or part thereof.”
33. We consider it appropriate to clarify that the expression E “ascertained money” as used in Section 2(d) of the 1983 Act will include not only the amount already ascertained but the amount which may be ascertained during the proceedings on the basis of claims/ counter claims of the parties.
44. Our attention has also been drawn to Section 4(3)(iii) of the F 1983 Act to submit that consistent with the policy of law and the judgment of this Court in Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Ors. vs. Raja Transport Private Ltd., (2009) 8 SCC 520, an employee of a party to the dispute cannot be an arbitrator. Section 4(3)(iii) of the 1983 Act is in the following terms: “4. Chairman and members of Tribunal and their qualifications.- G
(3) No person shall be qualified for appointment as a member of the Tribunal, unless- (iii) he is or has been :- H
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A (a) Chief Engineer in the service of the State Government in Public Works, Irrigation or Public Health Engineering Department; or (b) a Chief Engineer in the service of the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board; or B (c) a Senior Deputy Accountant General of the Office of the Accountant General, Madhya Pradesh, for a period of not less than five years: Provided that in the case of clause (iii), in exceptional C circumstances, the State Government may relax the prescribed minimum period of five years to three years.”
55. We clarify that the State of Madhya Pradesh will not appoint as member of the Tribunal, its employee of the concerned department to which the dispute relates.
66. The appeal stands disposed of as above. S.L.P.(C)….D. No. 10817/2018 and S.L.P.(C)…..D. No. 12928/ 2018: Delay condoned. E The special leave petitions shall also stand disposed of in terms of the order passed today in S.L.P. (C) No. 6513 of 2018. Pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of.
Kalpana K. Tripathy Appeal disposed of. F
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