JUDGMENT

Anup Jairam Bhambhani J. - By way of the present petition under section 11 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 ('A&C Act' for short), the petitioners seek appointment of an arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes that are stated to have arisen with the respondent from Rupee Facility Agreement dated 26.04.2019 ('Rupee Facility Agreement').

2. Notice on this petition was issued on 07.04.2021; whereupon counter-affidavit dated 05.07.2021 was filed by the respondent.

3. Mr. Sanjeev Bhandari, learned counsel for the petitioner has premised his submissions on section 11 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 ('SARFAESI Act' for short), which, counsel submits, creates a statutory arbitration agreement between the parties. For completeness, it may be recorded that the Rupee Facility Agreement in itself does not contain an arbitration clause.

4. The essential submissions made on behalf of the petitioners in support of their petition under section 11 of the A&C Act are the following:

4.1 That petitioner No. 1 is a Non-Banking Finance Company ('NBFC' for short) registered with the Reserve Bank of India, and is