Continuum Power Trading (Tn) Private Limited Vs Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (May 2024)

The petitioner sought an appointment of arbitration before the Delhi High Court under section 11 of the Arbitration Act.
 
Whereas the Respondent contended that the present petition is premature as the petitioner has not followed the pre-arbitral steps as stipulated in the Contract and also the petitioner has filed the section 9 application on the same date of invoking arbitration.
 
On the other hand, the petitioner argued the Respondent pursuant to the Contract clause failed to respond to the notice within 30 days and neither furnished any written material in support of its defenses or counterclaim.
 
The court observed the following
 
✍️ The Court is only required to verify the existence of arbitration agreement between the parties and whether the dispute is arbitrable or not. Another condition prescribed may be the service of notice under Section 21 for the commencement of the Arbitration proceedings.
 
🖇️ Further clarified that interim application under Section 9 can be filed before, after, or during the arbitration proceedings. The procedure as agreed upon between the parties cannot restrain either of the parties from invoking the jurisdiction of the Court under Section 9 of the Act.
 
👨‍⚖️ 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒎. 𝑯𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆.
 
Accordingly, the court allowed the section 11 application and appointed an arbitrator,