Judgment:-

J.M. Panchal, J.

1. By filing the instant application under Section 11 (6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ("the Act" for short), the applicant, i.e., Speech & Software Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd. has prayed to appoint Mr. Justice Arvind Sawant (Retd.), former Chief Justice, High Court of Kerala, as sole arbitrator and to refer the disputes to him, which have arisen between the applicant and the respondent during the course of execution of Services Agreement dated July 15, 2006.

2. Therelevant facts, which emerge from the record of the case, are as under: -

The applicant is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956. Its registered office is situated at Chennai. The respondent is a company having its registered office at London. The applicant and the respondent entered into a Services Agreement dated July 15, 2006. Under the said agreement, the applicant was to provide services to the respondent as set out in schedule 2 to the said agreement. The respondent had agreed to make payment of 15,500 per month to the applicant and also to compensate the Director of the applicant for coordination activities. A copy of the agreement dated July 15, 2006 is