IMPORTANT POINT
In absence of an arbitration clause application u/s 11(6) is not maintainable.

JUDGMENT

1. The petitioner is a former employee of Coca-Cola India, Inc., the respondent No.2 herein. At the time of joining the respondent company an agreement dated 20.09.1995 was entered into between the petitioner and the respondent No.2, relevant features of which will be noticed in due course. It appears that while in employment in the respondent company, the petitioner had complained of gender discrimination and harassment primarily on account of the service conditions relating to pay and emoluments. The complaint of the petitioner was sought to be redressed by the respondent company by appointing an independent investigator and thereafter through mediation proceedings which did not yield any result. With effect from 28.07.2004, the petitioner’s resignation from service in the respondent No.2 company became effective and payment in full and final settlement of her claims had also been tendered and received by the petitioner.

2. It appears that on 05.12.2006 the petitioner issued a legal notice to the respondents invoking the arbitration mechanism under the “solutions programme” and claiming compensation against harassment and gender discrimination that she claimed to have suffered during the course of her employment and even after her resignation. While it will not be necessary to go into the detailed facts and circumstances in which the grievances of the petitioner came to be resurrected after her resignation, suffice it will be to notice that an SMS message received around this time by the petitioner from one Mr. Adil Malia, Vice-President, Human Resources of the respondent No.2 company, apparently, had triggered off the aforesaid response of the petitioner. The demand for arbitration made by the petitioner was refused by the respondent on the ground that the “solutions programme” was not applicable to the petitioner and the same was meant only for employees of the first respondent in the United States of America. This has led to the filing of the instant application under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short the “1996 Act”) resulting in the proceedings in question.

3. It will be necessary, at this stage, to take note of the details of the “solutions programme” in terms of which the petitioner claims the mechanism for arbitration contained therein to be a part of the contract of employment between her and the respondents.

4. Some time in the year 1999 four African-Americans who were current and former employees of the first respondent had filed a complaint seeking declaratory, injunctive and other equitable reliefs and compensatory and punitive damages on account of alleged/claimed infringement and deprivation of rights of the aforesaid persons by the respondent No.1. On 16.11.2000, a settlement was arrived at between the aforesaid employees of the first respondent and the company. The said settlement formed a part of the consent decree dated 07.06.2001 of an United States District Court (Georgia). The aforesaid decree, inter alia, provided for constitution of a task force to continuously evaluate the human resource policies and practices of the first respondent and also to consider whether implementing an arbitration procedure would be appropriate. The task force submitted its report from time to time and it was in the 3rd annual report submitted on 01.12.2004 that of the various problem resolution methods, the following were also incorporated:-

“4) Mediation-this involves a neutral third party outside the Company and is available only for resolution of legal disputes, such as discrimination or harassment.

5) Arbitration – If mediation fails to resolve the legal dispute to the employee’s satisfaction, arbitration is available. This requires both parties to explain their sides to a trained arbitrator, usually an attorney or judge.”

5. This, in essence is the “solutions programme” on which the petitioner has based her claim. According to the petitioner the “solutions programme” is applicable