M/S Caparo Financial Solutions Limited vs M/S JEM And Associates & Ors.

C. Hari Shankar, J

Consequent to an objection having been raised by the respondent, regarding the appointment of Hon’ble Mr. Justice N.K. Modi, a retired Judge

of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, as the arbitrator to arbitrate on the disputes between the petitioner and the respondent, premised on Section

12(5) of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as “the 1996 Actâ€) read with the Seventh Schedule thereto and the

judgment of the Supreme Court in Perkins Eastman Architects DPC v. HSCC (India) Ltd.1, the learned arbitrator recused from the proceedings.

This provoked the petitioner to file the present petition before this Court, seeking appointment of a substitute arbitrator.

Mr. Ram, learned Counsel for the respondent has, on instructions, submitted that his client has no objection to the appointment of Hon’ble Mr.

Justice N. K. Modi as the substitute arbitrator by this Court, in exercise of jurisdiction under Section 12(5) of the 1996 Act, and that the objection

voiced before the learned arbitrator was on a matter of principle.

Learned Counsel for the parties also agree, ad idem, that the learned arbitrator could continue the proceedings from the point where the

proceedings stood discontinued at the stage of his recusal.

Accordingly, this petition is disposed of by appointing Hon’ble Mr. Justice N.K. Modi (retired), who was earlier conducting the arbitral

proceedings between the parties, as the substitute arbitrator under Section 12(5) of the 1996 Act.

The learned arbitrator would be entitled to continue the arbitral proceedings from the point where they stood at the time of his recusal. As this is a

substitute appointment, under Section 15(2) read with Section 12(5) of the 1996 Act, the mandate of the learned arbitrator would commence afresh

from today.

Both sides submit that the learned arbitrator has requested them to appear before him on 15th March, 2021. They may do so accordingly.

With the above observations, this petition stands disposed of.