( 1 ) THIS is a petition under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, praying for appointment of an arbitrator in accordance with the provisions of Section 11 of the said Act for adjudication and resolving the disputes arising between the parties.

( 2 ) THE petitioner has filed the present petition contending, inter alia, that a Sale and Purchase Contract was entered into between the petitioner and the respondent on 25th July, 1995 wherein, the respondent agreed to purchase 826. 234 Metric Tonnes of Shredded Scrap consisting of homogeneous Iron and Steel Scrap as per the specifications at the price mentioned in the said Contract. As per Clause D of the said Contract, the shipment was to be effected by 31st July, 1995 and as per Clause D and F of the Contract, the letter of Credit was to be established within seven dayof signing of the Contract.

( 3 ) IT is alleged that the respondent committed breach of the Contract by failing to establish Letter of Credit and also failed to take delivery of the goods. Under the aforesaid circumstances, according to the petitioner, disputes have arisen between the parties out of the aforesaid Contract and, therefore, the same is required to be adjudicated upon through the process of arbitration in terms of the arbitration agreement between the parties.

( 4 ) THE respondent after service of notice appeared in the matter, but, has not filed any reply to the aforesaid petition. However, its counsel appeared during the course of arguments and contested the petition mainly on three counts, namely, (a) that the person instituting the present proceedings has no authority to institute the proceedings, nor was he competent to sign and verify the pleadings; (b) that there was no concluded contract between the parties and that the alleged contract relied upon by the petitioner was merely a proposal and cannot be termed as a concluded contract; (c) that the petitioner has failed to identify and indicate the disputes alleged to have arisen between the parties in the petition and, thus, the petition is not maintainable and is liable to be rejected. In view of the aforesaid objection taken by the counsel for the respondent to the relief sought for by the petitioner in the present petition, let me consider the merit of the aforesaid objections raised in the present petition.

( 5 ) WITH regard to the authority of Mrs. Girija Bhan in instituting the present petition and signing and verifying the pleadings, the said objection was raised only at the time of arguments. Counsel appearing for the petitioner sought for four days time to file the Power of Attorney giving authority by the petitioner to said Mrs. Girija Bhan to institute the present proceedings, which was allowed by this Court on 7. 9. 1998. In pursuance thereof, the petitioner has placed on record a Power of Attorney executed by the petitioner in favour of Mrs. Girija Bhan appointing her as the Attorney of the petitioner for instituting legal proceedings against the respondent herein. The said Power of Attorney clearly empowers Mrs. Girija Bhan to institute the present proceedings and also to sign and verify the pleadings and thus, the objection raised by the respondent in that regard is found to be without any merit.

( 6 ) WITH regard to the objection that the Sale and Purchase Contract dated 25th July, 1995 which contains the Arbitration Agreement is not a concluded contract and is merely a proposal, I have heard the counsel appearing for the parties. A perusal of the said document dated 25th July, 1995 would indicate that the same is intended to be a concluded contract, inasmuch as, the said document was categorised as the Sale and Purchase Contract. Under the said Contract, the respondent agreed to purchase and the petitioner agreed to sell the materials specified therein on the terms and conditions mentioned in the Contract. The said documents contains various clauses specifying the quantity to be sold and purch