The main legal point established in the judgment is that the absence of specific terms like 'arbitration' or 'arbitrator' in the clauses and the provision of departmental remedies indicated the absence of a valid arbitration agreement.

JUDGMENT :

1. This application is filed for appointment of arbitrator under sub section 6 of section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act of 1996" for the sake of brevity).

2. The relevant clauses of the agreement between the parties under which appointment of arbitrator is sought are as under :-

30 (1) Except otherwise specified in the contract & subject to the powers delegated to him by Corporation under the code, rules then in force, the decision of the Superintending Engineer of the circle for the time being shall be final, conclusive, & binding on all parties of the contract upon all questions relating to the meaning of the specifications, designs, drawings and instructions hereinbefore mentioned and as to the quality or workmanship or materials used on the work, or as to any other question, claim, right matter, or thing whatsoever, if any way arising out of, or relating to the contract, designs, drawings, specifications, estimates, instructions, orders, or these conditions, or otherwise concerning the works, or execution, or failure to execute the same, whether arising during the progress of the work, or after the completion or abandonment thereof.

30 (2) : The contractor may within 30 days of receipt by him of any order passed by the Superintending Engineer of the circle as aforesaid appeal against it to the Chief Engineer concerned with the contract, work or project provided that.

a) The accepted value of the contract exceed Rs. 100 lakhs (Rupees hundred lakhs only.)

b) Amount of claim is not less than Rs. 1.00 Lakh (Rupees one lakh only.)

30 (3) : If the contractor is not satisfied with the order passed by the Chief Engineer as aforesaid, the contractor may within 30 deays of receipt by him of any such order, appeal against it to the Executive Director, Godawari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation Aurangabad, who, if convinced that Prima-facie the contractor's claim rejected by S.E/C.E. is not frivolous and that there is some substance in the claim of the contractor as would merit a detailed examination and decision by the Executive Committee/Standing committee at Corporation level for suitable decision.

3. Mr Surwase, the learned counsel appearing for respondent Nos. (B) and (D) has relied upon judgment of this Court in B.T. Patil Construction Vs. Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation, Arbitration Application No. 117/2013 decided on 11.07.2014 in support of his contention that similar clause has been interpreted by this Court to mean that there exists no arbitration agreement between the parties. Mr Surwase has therefore prayed for rejection of the application.

4. In B.T. Patil Construction (supra), clauses 30.1, 30.2 and 30.3 of the agreement therein were as under :-

Clause – 30.1 : Except where otherwise specified in the contract and subject to the powers delegated to him by Corporation under the code, rules then in force the decision of the Superintending Engineer of the circle for the time being shall be final, conclusive and “binding on all parties of the contract upon all questions” relating to the meaning of the specification, design, drawing and instructions hereinbefore mentioned and as to the quality or workmanship or materials used on the work or as to “any other question claim, right matter or thing whatsoever if any way arising out of or relating to the contract, designs, designs, specifications, estimates, instructions, orders or these conditions or otherwise concerning the works, or the execution or failure to execute same, whether arising during the progress of work or after the completion or abandonment thereof.

Clause – 30.2 : The contractor may within 30 days of receipt by him of any order passed by the Superintending Engineer of the Circle as aforesaid appeal against it to the Chief Engineer concerned with the contract, work or project provided that -

(a) The accepted value of the contract exceeds Rs. 10 lakhs (Rs. Ten lakhs)

(b) Amount