JUDGMENT :

Arup Kumar Goswami, J.

1. This application is filed under Section 11(4) and (6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short, "the Act of 1996") for appointment of an arbitrator.

2. The applicant is in the business of running a cold-storage for perishable consumables belonging to farmers/vendors. It had taken a Standard Fire & Special Perils Policy from the respondent-company for the year 2010-11. For the year 2011-12, the applicant had taken two Standard Fire & Special Perils Policies bearing Nos. OG-12-1819-4005-00000009 for Rs. 2,00,00,000/- (Rupees Two Crores) and OG-12-1819-4005-00000010 for Rs. 3,00,00,000/- (Rupees Three Crores) from the respondent-company on 28.05.2011. It was regularly paying the premium and submitting monthly stock declaration statements.

3. On 21.12.2011, a major fire accident had taken place in the cold-storage unit due to short circuit resulting in the entire premises of the cold-storage unit being gutted. All the commodities stored in the cold storage also went up in flames. On that day itself, the applicant informed the respondent about the incident. Discussions had ensued in between the representatives of the applicant and the respondent with regard to calculation of the claim and the applicant was informed that the calculation of loss would be on the basis of average of everyday stock values of each month, which was not acceptable to the applicant as the applicant has been submitting declaration statements basing on the quantum of stock stored on the last date of each month.

4. It is pleaded that the applicant had suffered losses to the tune of Rs. 1,51,34,922/-. On 07.03.2012, the applicant addressed a letter to the surveyors of the respondent, amongst others, requesting to complete the survey report at the earliest and also requesting to recommend to the respondent to release an interim amount of Rs. 60,00,000/- to disburse the same to some farmers who were under great financial loss.

5. A letter dated 05.05.2012 was issued by the applicant to the respondent to pay the claim amount of Rs. 1,51,34,922/- and another letter dated 25.05.2012 was issued requesting to finalize the report on the basis of the declaration submitted by the applicant. A letter dated 23.07.2012 was issued by the respondent that the stock declaration statements submitted by the applicant did not conform to the procedure laid down in the fire declaration policy and requested the applicant to submit fresh declarations on either the average of the values at risk on each day of the month or the highest value at risk during the month, much to the consternation of the applicant, as the respondent had never made a whisper that the stock declaration statements submitted by the applicant were not conforming to the fire declaration policy for the previous three years.

6. Subsequently, on 08.08.2012, the respondent sent a letter to the applicant enclosing a copy of the surveyor's letter along with the mode of assessment and requesting the applicant to give its consent to enable the respondent to process the claim. It is the pleaded case of the applicant that because of the turn of events, he was in a very depressed state of mind and as vendors/farmers were constantly pressing the applicant to settle the claims and had threatened the applicant with dire consequences if the claims were not settled, the applicant had no option but to accept the survey report, which settled the claim of the applicant for Rs. 62,88,241/-. Accordingly, he was compelled to sign the Indemnity Bond, which was a pre-requisite condition for release of the aforesaid amount. On 12.12.2012, the applicant addressed a letter to the respondent informing that he was compelled to accept the insurance claim under duress and that the applicant would treat the issue of settlement as a dispute and that the applicant would initiate arbitration proceedings as per clause 10 of the General Conditions of the Commercial Package Policy and the said letter was re