TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD.versusCHOPRA BROTHERS

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                                                                                             Sayali



           Digitally signed            IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
SAYALI  by SAYALI
        DEEPAK
DEEPAK UPASANI                             ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION
UPASANI Date:
        2026.09.24
           16:29:08 +0530
                                               IN ITS COMMERCIAL DIVISION

                                      COMM. ARBITRATION APPLICATION NO. 326 OF 2025

                              Tata Consumer Product Ltd                     … Applicant
                                        V/s.
                              Chopra Brothers                               … Respondents

                              Mr. Bhavik Lalan with Ms. Seema Pandey with Mr.
                              Anant Kumar i/b Sumit K. Nagda, for Applicant.
                              Mr. Mahesh Vishwakarma, for Respondent nos. 1 and
                              3.


                                                           CORAM      : AMIT BORKAR, J.

                                                           DATED      : SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

                              P.C.:

                              1.       This is an Application under Section 11 of the Arbitration
                              and Conciliation Act, 1996. The principal objection raised on
                              behalf of the Opponent is that the parties are already
                              prosecuting arbitral proceedings arising out of arbitration
                              agreements entered into between them and, therefore, no
                              separate reference to arbitration is warranted in the present
                              proceedings.

                              2.       In response to the aforesaid objection, the Petitioner has
                              filed a Rejoinder and has made a categorical statement that the



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arbitral proceedings pending before the Calcutta High Court
and/or the Arbitral Tribunal arise out of agreements which are
wholly independent and distinct from the agreements relied
upon in the present proceedings for seeking appointment of an
Arbitrator. It is specifically asserted that the disputes forming the
subject matter of those proceedings have no connection with the
agreement containing the arbitration clause invoked in the
present Application.

3.    In view of the specific statement made in the Rejoinder,
this Court called upon the learned Advocate appearing for the
Opponent to make a categorical statement as to whether the
factual assertion made by the Petitioner was correct or incorrect.
The learned Advocate appearing for the Opponent stated that, as
the Business Transfer Agreement and the other relevant
agreements were not available with him, he was unable to make
any categorical statement either admitting or denying the
factual assertion made by the Petitioner.

4.    In these circumstances, there is no categorical denial on
behalf of the Opponent of the specific factual assertion made in
the Rejoinder that the proceedings pending before the Calcutta
High Court and/or the Arbitral Tribunal arise out of a different
and independent agreement. In the absence of any specific
denial of such assertion, the said statement made by the
Petitioner is required to be accepted for the purposes of deciding
the present Application. It is also relevant that the existence and
applicability of the agreement which forms the subject matter of


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the present Application has not been disputed in a manner
sufficient to displace the Petitioner's case. The Applicant has,
therefore, established the necessary foundation for exercise of
jurisdiction under Section 11 of the Act and for appointment of
an Arbitrator.

5.    The present Application has been filed under Section 11 of
the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, hereinafter referred
to as “the Act”, seeking appointment of an Arbitrator for
adjudication of the disputes and differences stated to have
arisen between the parties in connection with the Agreement
dated 01 April 2019. The arbitration agreement between the
parties is contained in Clause 15.2 of the said Agreement, a copy
of which is placed on record at pages 63 and 64 of the
Application. For the sake of brevity, the said arbitration clause is
not reproduced herein. It is sufficient to observe that the
arbitration agreement confers the necessary basis for seeking
appointment of an Arbitrator and that the present Application
falls within the territorial jurisdiction of this Court.

6.    The material placed on record further indicates that the
Applicant invoked the arbitration agreement by issuing a notice
dated 14 October 2023. In response thereto, the Respondent, by
its communication dated 03 November 2023, accepted the
existence of the arbitration agreement between the parties. The
invocation of the arbitration agreement by the Applicant,
therefore, cannot be said to be without contractual foundation.




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7.    Having considered the pleadings, the documents placed on
record and the submissions advanced on behalf of the parties, I
am satisfied that a valid and subsisting arbitration agreement
exists between the parties and that the Applicant has duly
invoked the arbitration clause contained therein. The existence
of the arbitration agreement and its invocation having been
established, the disputes and differences arising out of and in
connection with the Agreement dated 26 June 2007 are required
to be referred to arbitration for adjudication by a Sole Arbitrator.
Accordingly, the Application deserves to be allowed in terms of
the operative order.
8.    In view of the aforesaid, the present Application filed
under Section 11 of the Act is disposed of by passing the
following order:

      A)    Mr. Harsh Moorjani, an advocate of this Court, is
      hereby appointed as the Sole Arbitrator to adjudicate
      upon the disputes and differences between the parties
      arising out of and in connection with the Super Stockist
      Agreement dated 1st April 2019;

      Office Address:- C/o Sr. Ashish Kamat, 501, 5th Floor,
      Oval House, Old British Lane, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai
      – 400001.

      Email ID: [email protected]




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B)    A copy of this Order will be communicated to
the Learned Sole Arbitrator by the Advocates for the
Applicant within a period of one week from today.
The   Applicant   shall    provide   the   contact    and
communication particulars of the parties to the
Arbitral Tribunal along with a copy of this Order;

C) The Learned Sole Arbitrator is requested to
forward the statutory Statement of Disclosure under
Section 11(8) read with Section 12(1) of the Act to
the Advocates for the Applicant so as to enable them
to file the same in the Registry of this Court. The
Registry of this Court shall retain the said Statement
on the file of this Applicant and a copy of the same
shall be furnished by the Advocates for the Applicant
to the Advocates for the Respondent;

D) The Learned Sole Arbitrator is requested to
forward the statutory Statement of Disclosure under
Section 11(8) read with Section 12(1) of the Act to
the parties within a period of two weeks from receipt
of a copy of this Order;

E)The parties shall appear before the Learned Sole
Arbitrator on such date and at such place as indicated,
to obtain appropriate directions with regard to
conduct of the arbitration including fixing a schedule
for pleadings, examination of witnesses, if any,
schedule of hearings etc. At such meeting, the parties


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      shall provide a valid and functional email address
      along with mobile and landline numbers of the
      respective Advocates of the parties to the Arbitral
      Tribunal.   Communications to such email addresses
      shall constitute valid service of correspondence in
      connection with the arbitration;

      All arbitral costs and fees of the Arbitral Tribunal shall
      be borne by the parties equally in the first instance,
      and shall be subject to any final Award that may be
      passed by the Tribunal in relation to costs.

9.        All issues on merits including limitation are expressly
kept open to be agitated before the arbitral tribunal appointed
hereby.

10.   All actions required to be taken pursuant to this order
shall be taken upon receipt of a downloaded copy as available
on this Court’s website.


                                           (AMIT BORKAR, J.)




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