Chief Justice appoints second arbitrator

Retired Justice M R Agnihotri was appointed by Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal as the second arbitrator. Justice D P Wadhwa (retd) was already appointed by Parsvnath as the arbitrator.

The Chief Justice has given six weeks’ time to appoint a third arbitrator jointly by the two retired judges. And if the parties fail,Justice Kuldip Singh (retired Supreme Court judge) will be nominated as the third arbitrator,Mudgal said.

Once the third appointment is made,the two parties will appear before the arbitrators on August 23 and the arbitration award will be decided within six months,the CJ ruled.

The dispute relates to the Filmcity project,which was to come up in an area of 30 acres in Sarangpur village. The Rs 191-crore project was allotted to Parsvnath but was later scrapped. The Administration had terminated the contract and forfeited the Rs 47.75-crore deposit of the company.

The Administration had also refused to appoint an arbitrator to settle the dispute following which the Parsvnath Group moved the High Court.

According to the arbitration rules,three arbitrators are appointed to settle a dispute. In this case,one was to be appointed by the company,the second by the Administration and third by the two nominated arbitrators.

The Parsvnath Group in its petition contended that there was no provision according to which the Administration can refuse to appoint an arbitrator.

In its written reply submitted to the High Court,the Administration had submitted that “since the Administration has exercised its discretion and terminating the development agreement,as such,there is no obligation on its part in appointing the second arbitrator in the matter”. UT Advisor Pardip Mehra had recommended a CBI probe into the entire project.