The court emphasized the necessity to resolve contempt allegations before proceeding with arbitration to uphold the integrity of the judicial process and ensure fairness.

JUDGMENT :

SACHIN DATTA, J.

1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking the following prayers:

2. It is the case of the petitioner that the respondent company had duly received from, and/or owed to, the petitioner a sum of Rs.7,33,30,548 as on 27.09.2018. In lieu of the monies so received, the parties entered into five (5) Agreements to Sell (hereinafter referred to individually as “Agreement 1”, “Agreement 2”, “Agreement 3”, “Agreement 4” and “Agreement 5” and collectively as the “Agreements”) dated 27.09.2018, whereby the respondent agreed to sell twenty-one (21) flats to the petitioner, being developed in the respondent’s project, i.e., a multi-storeyed residential complex known as “PRIMERA”, located at Ramprastha City, Sector 37-D, Gurgaon, in terms of the conditions agreed in the aforementioned Agreements to Sell.

3. Five (5) separate Agreements to Sell were entered into on the same day, i.e., 27.09.2018, between the same parties in respect of Twenty-One (21) flats, as part of one composite transaction. It was recorded in the Agreements to Sell that the entire consideration amounts of Rs. 1,06,82,750/-, Rs. 1,06,82,750/-, Rs. 1,06,82,750/-, Rs. 1,06,82,750/- and Rs. 3,05,99,548/-, in terms of the respective Agreements to Sell, aggregating to Rs. 7,33,30,548/-, in lieu of twenty-one (21) flats, had been duly received by the respondent company as of the date of execution of the Agreements to Sell.

4. Thus, it is submitted that in terms of the Agreements, the entire obligation of the petitioner to pay the full consideration amount stood duly satisfied at the inception itself, i.e., at the time of execution of the Agreements.

5. It is submitted that in terms of Clause 6, each of the Agreements contained provisions for the buy-back of the respective flats agreed to be sold thereunder. Such buy-back could be exercised by the respondent company only within the timelines specified in the respective Agreements. As on 03.06.2019, the respondent had availed the buy-back option in respect of two (2) Agreements to Sell dated 27.09.2018 and upon making the requisite payment, a Cancellation Agreement dated 03.06.2019 was entered into between the parties, whereby two (2) out of the five (5) Agreements dated 27.09.2018, i.e., Agreement 4 and Agreement 5, were cancelled and the originals of the same were returned to the respondent.

6. Thereafter, it is submitted that despite several communications between the parties, the payment in lieu of exercising the buy-back option in respect of the remaining three Agreements, i.e., Agreement 1, Agreement 2 and Agreement 3, was admittedly not made by the respondent. Consequently, the time for exercising such option on behalf of the respondent has lapsed. Accordingly, it is submitted that it became obligatory for the respondent company to convey fifteen (15) flats to the petitioner in accordance with the terms of the aforementioned remaining three Agreements.

7. The petitioner, apprehending that the officers of the respondent may have colluded with one another and cheated or played fraud upon the petitioner, and may have sold or created third party interest in the fifteen (