Allahabad High Court
AZAD KUMAR BHATIversusMANAGING DIRECTOR NOIDA POWER COMPANY LTD
- Decided
- Bench
- PIYUSH AGRAWAL
Holding
The High Court dismissed the arbitration application as withdrawn and barred any fresh application on the same agreement.
Summary
Azad Kumar Bhati filed an arbitration application before the Allahabad High Court seeking appointment of a sole arbitrator. The opposite party, Managing Director of Noida Power Company Ltd, objected, alleging that the agreement annexed to the application was forged and differed from an earlier agreement filed in arbitration application No. 131 of 2023. The opposite party submitted the earlier agreement and a supplementary affidavit to demonstrate the discrepancy. The court examined the objection, found the present agreement not genuine, and dismissed the arbitration application as withdrawn. The judgment also barred the applicant from filing a fresh arbitration application concerning the same agreement.
Issues considered
- What is the maintainability of an arbitration application when the supporting agreement is alleged to be forged and inconsistent with a previously filed agreement?
Subjects
- Arbitration
- Maintainability
- Forged agreement
- Withdrawal
- High Court
- Appointment of sole arbitrator
Judgment
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
ARBITRATION AND CONCILI. APPL.U/S11(4) No. - 27 of 2024
Azad Kumar Bhati
.....Applicant(s)
Versus
Managing Director Noida Power Company Ltd
.....Opposite
Party(s)
Counsel for Applicant(s) : Suresh Chandra Gupta
Counsel for Opposite Party(s) : Imran Syed, Tarun Agrawal
Court No. - 7
HON'BLE PIYUSH AGRAWAL, J.
Heard Mr. Suresh Chandra Gupta, counsel for the applicant and Mr.
Prakhar Saran Srivastava holding brief of Mr. Imran Syed, counsel for the
opposite party.
Learned counsel for the opposite party raises a preliminary objection with
regard to maintainability of the present arbitration application and submits
that agreement filed along with the present arbitration application is
forged and fabricated. In support of his submission, learned counsel for
the opposite party has relied upon the document filed in the earlier round
of litigation i.e. in arbitration application no. 131 of 2023, wherein some
different undated agreement was filed and on direction of the court, a
supplementary affidavit has been filed bringing on record the signed copy
of the agreement. He submits that when both the agreements were
compared then the sentence at the bottom of page no. 2 and top of page
no. 3 do not make any sense, therefore, the present arbitration application
cannot be entertained.
On pointed query put to learned counsel for the applicant that agreement
filed in support of the present arbitration application is not appearing as
genuine, learned counsel for the applicant submits that the papers have
been provided by his client / applicant but on the face of the agreement,
the same appears to be different from the earlier petition. He further prays
for withdrawal of the present arbitration application.
Accordingly, the present arbitration application is dismissed as
ARCO No. 27 of 2024
2
withdrawn.
It is made clear that no liberty is being granted to the applicant to
institute a fresh arbitration application in respect of the agreement in
question for appointment of sole arbitration.
(Piyush Agrawal,J.)
May 12, 2026
Rahul Dwivedi/-
Digitally signed by :-
RAHUL DWIVEDI
High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
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