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TMI Blog2006 (11) TMI 549X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hes the High Court, in that case, the High Court will be fully justified in appointing arbitrator under section 11 of the Act. It is the discretion of the High Court that they can appoint any railway officer or they can appoint any High Court Judge according to the given situation. As a result of our above discussion, we allow these appeals, set aside the orders of the High Court. We direct the General Manager, Railway to appoint arbitral tribunal within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. The arbitral tribunal so appointed shall enter into the matter and dispose of the arbitration proceedings as expeditiously as possible. Consequently, the appointment of Justice Y.V.Narayana as arbitrator is set ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... / Manual means for a quantity of 1.8 lakh cum at the value of Rs.5,02,20,000/-. The agreement No.GM/W/SC/93/2 providing payment of mobilization advance and machinery and plant advance was executed by the contractor on 19.4.1993. The completion period was 39 months as per the acceptance letter dated 27.1.1993. As per the agreement the work was to be commenced from 26.4.1993 and completed by 26.4.1996 supplying the ballast at the rate of 60,000 cum per annum. As the contractor could not commence the work as per the tender conditions and supplied only 88214 cum up to November, 1997 penalty for an amount of Rs.1,01 crore was recovered from the running bills of the contractor. The appellant did not agree to the request of the contractor for waiv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l Tribunal, The General Manager of the Railways as per Clause 64 of the General Conditions of Contract accepted the request of the respondent for referring the dispute to the Arbitral Tribunal and accordingly, a letter was sent on 5.5.1998 furnishing four names of Railways Officers out of which the respondent had to nominate up to two names which was the requirement in accordance with clause 64 (3) (a) (ii) of the General Conditions of Contract. The respondent chose one name i.e. Shri R.N. Raghavan out of the four names given to him and the dispute was referred to the Arbitral Tribunal on 20.8.1998. Thereafter some other Railway Official was appointed. Some claims were not referred to the Arbitral Tribunal. Meanwhile, the contactor filed pe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... withdrawn by referring the same to the sole Arbitrator appointed by this Court, the question of functioning of the Arbitral Tribunal constituted by the General Manager, Railways, does not arise." Hence, aggrieved against this order the present Special Leave Petition was filed and leave was granted. Hence both the present appeals have come up before us for final disposal. Learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the appellant- Union of India has pointed out that as per Clauses 63 64 of the General Conditions of Contract, this Court in no uncertain terms has held that the Arbitral Tribunal has to be constituted as per the General Conditions of Contract, the High Court should not interfere under Section 11 of the Act and the Hi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... other one month and thereafter the arbitrators shall make their award within a period of three months." Earlier also in the case of Datar Switchgears Ltd. v. Tata Finance Ltd Anr. [ (2002) 8 SCC 151] their Lordships have observed that the arbitrator should be appointed within thirty days on demand being made by the other party and the appointment could still be made but before the other party moves the Court under Section 11 of the Act. It was observed that once the other party moves the court the right to make the appointment ceases to exist. In the present case as it appears that the General Manager, Railway has already appointed the arbitrator but despite this, learned Single Judge has overruled the objection of the Union of India ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ager to make appointment. However, before parting with this case we may also observe that Railways and Public institutions are very slow in reacting to the request made by a contractor for appointment of the arbitrator. Therefore, in case appointment is not made in time on the request made by the contracting party. then in that case the power of the High Court to appoint arbitrator under Section 11 of the Act will not be denuded. We cannot allow administrative authorities to sleep over the matter and leave the citizens without any remedy. Authorities shall be vigilant and their failure shall certainly give rise to cause to the affected party. In case, the General Manager, Railway does not appoint the arbitral tribunal after expiry of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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