Mehwar Kalan Sahkari Shram Samwida Samiti LTD. vs. Uttarakhand Transport Corporation Through Its General Manager
Facts
The appellant filed an appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, challenging an order dated March 31, 2023, passed by the Commercial Court, Dehradun. The Commercial Court had issued notice on the appellant's petition under Section 9 of the same Act, seeking interim relief, but did not grant ex parte ad interim relief. The appellant's case is that it has a contract with respondent no. 1 to provide drivers and conductors, and has deposited Rs. 50 lacs as security. Respondent no. 1 has allegedly breached the contract by procuring similar manpower from other sources. The appellant sought a restraint order against respondent no. 1 from doing so. The Commercial Court had fixed April 20, 2023, for hearing.
Held
The High Court did not decide the merits of the case. Instead, considering that the appellant claimed to be suffering daily losses, the Court inclined to pre-pone the hearing date before the Commercial Court from April 20, 2023, to April 15, 2023. Respondent no. 1 agreed to file its reply to the Section 9 petition before the Commercial Court before the pre-poned date, with a copy to the appellant. The appeal was disposed of with these directions. The Court explicitly stated that no observation made in its order should be construed as an expression of opinion on the merits of the case by the Commercial Court. No specific finding was given on the issue of granting interim relief, as the matter was remitted back to the Commercial Court for an expedited hearing.
Key Issues
1. Whether the Commercial Court erred in not granting ex parte ad interim relief to the appellant under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, thereby causing grave losses to the appellant? Petitioner's contention: The non-grant of injunction is leading to grave losses to the appellant on a day-to-day basis. The appellant disputes the allegations made by respondent no. 1 regarding non-deposit of PF, ESI, and GST amounts, stating that no notice was ever issued in this regard and such allegations are not present in the impugned order before the Commercial Court. Revenue/State's contention: Respondent no. 1 contends that it decided to avail services of another outsourcing agency because the appellant was allegedly in breach of contract, specifically for not depositing PF, ESI, and GST amounts concerning the employees outsourced through the appellant.
Sections Cited
Section 37, Section 9
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
SL. No Date Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or directions and Registrar’s order with Signatures COURT’S OR JUDGES’S ORDERS
2023
AO No. 134 of 2023 Hon’ble Vipin Sanghi, C.J. Hon’ble Alok Kumar Verma, J.
Mr. Parikshit Saini, learned counsel for the appellant.
Mr. Ashish Joshi, learned counsel for respondent no.
Mr. Vikas Pande, learned Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand/ respondent no.
The appellant has preferred the present Appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to assail the order dated 31.03.2023, passed by the Commercial Court, Dehradun in Case No. 22/2023 preferred by the appellant, under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, to seek interim relief.
The Commercial Court has issued notice to the respondents, returnable on 20.04.2023, and not granted the ex parte ad interim relief sought by the appellant.
The case of the appellant is that the appellant has a running contract with respondent no. 1 to provide manpower of drivers and conductors to respondent no. 1 for running its buses. While the said contract is going on, in respec
The judgment continues below.
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