M/S GANGOTRI ENTERPRISES LTD.versusMADHYA PRADESH ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION AND ANR.

260                      [2018]REPORTS
               SUPREME COURT    4 S.C.R. 260              [2018] 4 S.C.R.


A                   M/S GANGOTRI ENTERPRISES LTD.
                                       v.
      MADHYA PRADESH ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
                       AND ANR.
B                       (Civil Appeal No. 4017 of 2018)
                                APRIL 18, 2018
          [ADARSH KUMAR GOEL AND R. F. NARIMAN, JJ.]
            Madhya Pradesh Madhyastham Adhikaran Adhiniyam, 1983:
C            s. 2(d) – Expression “ascertained money” occurring in s. 2(d)
      will include not only the amount already ascertained, but also the
      amount which may be ascertained during the proceedings.
             s. 4(3)(iii) – Qualification of Member of Arbitration Tribunal
      – Held: An employee of a party to the dispute cannot be an arbitrator
D     – Therefore, State of Madhya Pradesh not to appoint its employee
      of the concerned department, as member of the Arbitration Tribunal.
            Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Ors. vs. Raja Transport
            Private Ltd. (2009) 8 SCC 520 : [2009] 13 SCR 510 –
            relied on.
E                            Case Law Reference
            [2009] 13 SCR 510        relied on               Para 4
            CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 4017
      of 2018.
F          From the Judgment and Order dated 15.12.2017 of the High Court
      of Madhya Pradesh, Principal Seat, Jabalpur in A. C. No. 71 of 2016.
            Saurabh Mishra, AAG., Jugal Kishore Gilda, Purushaindra Kumar,
      Advs. Gen., Naman Nagrath, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Parag Triathi, Ms.
      Kiran Suri, Sr. Advs., Harsh Parashar, Jubin Prasad, Aman Pandey,
G     Jasdeep S. Dhillon, Prabhat K. Chaurasia, Ms. Renuka Sahu, Jay Savla,
      Amar Varun, Shantanu Krishna, Ms. Anusuya Salwan, Dhurav Mishra,
      Divyanshu Kumar Srivastav, Akash Lamba, Viren Sibal, Vivekananda
      B., Vikas Sood, Apporv Kurup, Ms. Isha Mital, Dr. Harsh Pathak, Ms.
      Shweta Mahajan, Mohit Chaubey, Siddharth Shukla, Neeraj Shekhar,
      Arjun Garg, Mishra Saurabh, Sridhar Potaraju, Sudhir Mishra, Prabhat
H
                                       260
 M/S GANGOTRI ENTERPRISES LTD. v. MADHYA PRADESH                                 261
        ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Kumar, Ms. Petal Chandok, Ms. Ankita Sharma, Rishabh, M. R.                      A
Shamshad, Aditya Samaddar, B. S. Banthia, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi,
Saurabh S. Sinha, Aditya Dev Triguna, Sunil Singh Parihar, M/S. AP &
J Chambers, Prafulla Kumar Behera, Manish K. Bhardwaj, S. S. Nehra,
Ms. Anuradha Mishra, Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, Varun Mohan, Swastik
Singh, Manish Yadav, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, B.N. Dubey, Ms.
                                                                                 B
Devika Gulati, Hitendra Nath Rath, Mayank Kshirsagar, Pavesh Joshi,
Chavu Ambwani (For M/s. AP & J Chambers), B. K. Satija, Sumit Attri,
K. Krishna Kumar, Hitendra Nath Rath, Nilava Bandyopadhayay, Rahul
Pandey, Advs. for the appearing parties.
       The following Order of the Court was passed:
                                                                                 C
                                       ORDER
       1. Leave granted. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
      2. Our attention has been drawn to the definition of “dispute”
under Section 2(d) of the Madhya Pradesh Madhyastham Adhikaran
Adhiniyam, 1983 (“1983 Act”) which is as follows:                                D
       “‘dispute’ means claim of ascertained money valued at Rupees
       50,000 or more relating to any difference arising out of the execution
       or non-execution of a works contract or part thereof.”
       3. We consider it appropriate to clarify that the expression
                                                                                 E
“ascertained money” as used in Section 2(d) of the 1983 Act will include
not only the amount already ascertained but the amount which may be
ascertained during the proceedings on the basis of claims/ counter claims
of the parties.
       4. Our attention has also been drawn to Section 4(3)(iii) of the
                                                                                 F
1983 Act to submit that consistent with the policy of law and the judgment
of this Court in Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Ors. vs. Raja Transport
Private Ltd., (2009) 8 SCC 520, an employee of a party to the dispute
cannot be an arbitrator. Section 4(3)(iii) of the 1983 Act is in the following
terms:
       “4. Chairman and members of Tribunal and their qualifications.-           G

       (3) No person shall be qualified for appointment as a member of
       the Tribunal, unless-
          (iii) he is or has been :-
                                                                                 H
262              SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2018] 4 S.C.R.


A                (a) Chief Engineer in the service of the State Government in
                     Public Works, Irrigation or Public Health Engineering
                     Department; or
                 (b) a Chief Engineer in the service of the Madhya Pradesh
                    Electricity Board; or
B                (c) a Senior Deputy Accountant General of the Office of the
                     Accountant General, Madhya Pradesh,
                 for a period of not less than five years:
                 Provided that in the case of clause (iii), in exceptional
C                circumstances, the State Government may relax the prescribed
                 minimum period of five years to three years.”
           5. We clarify that the State of Madhya Pradesh will not appoint
      as member of the Tribunal, its employee of the concerned department to
      which the dispute relates.
D             6. The appeal stands disposed of as above.
              S.L.P.(C)….D. No. 10817/2018 and S.L.P.(C)…..D. No. 12928/
      2018:
              Delay condoned.
E           The special leave petitions shall also stand disposed of in terms of
      the order passed today in S.L.P. (C) No. 6513 of 2018.
              Pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of.


      Kalpana K. Tripathy                                        Appeal disposed of.
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