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Judgment
This petition is filed under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short, “the Act”), seeking appointment of a Sole Arbitrator for adjudication of the dispute between the petitioner and the respondent.
The petitioner is a partnership firm registered on 24.04.2006 under the Partnership Act, 1932. The petitioner had leased out an office premises situated at Bengaluru to the respondent and, accordingly, executed a Lease Deed dated 23.10.2019 in favour of the respondent. The said Lease Deed contains an arbitration clause, namely, Clause 36.3, which reads as under:
36.3.Arbitration. If any dispute arising between the parties is not amicably settled within thirty (30) days of commencement of amicable attempts to settle the same as provided above, the Dispute shall be referred to, and be finally settled by, arbitration and shall be submitted to a sole arbitrator in accordance with the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 as amended upto date. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding on the parties.”
Since disputes arose between the parties, in terms of Section 21 of the Act, the petitioner issued a notice dated 06.08.2025 to the respondent vide Annexure-K, invoking the arbitration clause. Though the said notice was duly served upon the respondent, the respondent did not submit any reply thereto. Hence, the petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present petition.
Upon service of notice by this Court, the respondent has appeared through counsel.
Learned counsel for the respondent submits that she has no objection to the appointment of a Sole Arbitrator.
In view of the above and having regard to the existence of the arbitration clause contained in Clause-36.3 of the Lease Deed dated 23.10.2019, this Court is of the opinion that a Sole Arbitrator is required to be appointed for adjudication of the disputes between the parties. Accordingly, the following:
ORDER
Petition is allowed.
Smt.Prabhavathi Hiremath, Retired District Judge, is appointed as the Sole Arbitrator in the present case to arbitrate the dispute between the parties at the Arbitration and Conciliation Centre (Domestic & International), Bengaluru, as per the Rules governing the said Arbitration Centre.
All the claims and contentions of the parties are kept open.
Registry is directed to communicate this order via E-mail to the Arbitration and Conciliation Centre (Domestic & International), Khanija Bhavan, Bengaluru and also to the learned Sole Arbitrator.
Registry is directed to return all the original documents produced by any of the parties after obtaining Photostat copies of the same.