The court's jurisdiction under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act is limited to determining the existence of a dispute and an arbitration agreement, not the merits of the case.

ORDER :

1. Instant arbitration application under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been filed by the applicant seeking appointment of a sole Arbitrator to adjudicate/resolve the dispute between the parties.

2. Respondents has filed reply to the arbitration application.

3. Heard counsel for both parties and perused the documents available on record.

4. Applicant has come up with a case that Power Purchase Agreement dated 03.11.2018 was entered into between one Pink City Energy Private Limited and the respondent, to install and operate a solar photovolatic power plant of 628 KWP capacity at the premise of respondent at Sitapura, Jaipur. Respondent had agreed to purchase the entire solar power project on terms and conditions as agreed under the Power Purchase Agreement dated 03.11.2018. It has been pleaded that later on, under the Novation Agreement dated 15.02.2019, all the rights and liabilities of Pink City Energy Pvt. Ltd. were transferred to the applicant-Company and respondent, being party to the Novation Agreement, agreed for the same and put his signature. The Novation Agreement is part and parcel of the original Power Project Agreement dated 03.11.2018 wherein Clause 17.7(c) is incorporated as an arbitration agreement between parties. Clause 17.7(c) reads as under:-

"(c) Arbitration Procedure:

(i) In case of any dispute arising out of this Agreement or otherwise, between the parties hereto, Indian Standards and CEA Guidelines will be used for technical issues. A period of not more than 15 days will be allotted at each stage of resolution. Upon failure to resolve the said dispute through conciliation the dispute shall be referred to arbitration. The Director (Pink City Energy Private Limited), may appoint an arbitrator from the panel of arbitrators. The arbitrator(s) shall be appointed within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of written notice/ demand of appointment of arbitrator from either party. The cost of the arbitration will be shared equally by Power Producer and the Purchaser.

(ii) The venue of such arbitration shall be Jaipur. The arbitral award shall be binding on both the Parties."

5. It has been pleaded that dispute between the applicant and respondent has arisen due to not clearing the outstanding dues and invoices of applicant-Company as also hiring another agency by the respondent to dismantle and re-install the solar plates, that too without any written approval of the applicant. As per the applicant, such an action of respondent is in clear breach of terms of agreements and such dispute is required to be resolved through arbitration.

6. Applicant invoked arbitration clause by serving a legal notice dated 04.03.2024 to the respondent under Section 21 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and then has filed instant arbitration application on 01.06.2024.

7. Counsel for respondent submits that indeed there are no outstanding dues of the applicant and even the applicant has not quantified his outstanding dues in the arbitration application nor has clarified true nature of dispute sought to be referred to Arbitrator, hence, he submits that the arbitration application deserves to be dismissed.

8. This Court finds that whether the applicant has any outstanding dues against the respondent or the entire dues have been cleared, is a disputed question of fact. Further, there is a dispute between parties in respect of breach of condition No.8.3 of the agreement because it is the applicant's case that without his written authorization, respondent has hired another agency to dismantle and re-install the solar plates of the solar plant. Thus, obviously there is a dispute between parties which needs to be resolved.

9. This Court finds that the execution of Power Purchase Agreement dated 03.11.2018 and Novation Agreement dated 15.02.2019 is not under dispute between parties. The agreement dated 03.11.2018 contains an arbitration agreement incorporated in Clause 17.7(c) referred hereinabove an