JUDGMENT :

(Prayer: Original Petition filed under Section 14 and Section 15 read with Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, praying to terminate the mandate of the arbitral tribunal and reconstitute the arbitral tribunal by appointing a Retired High Court Judge as a sole arbitrator.)

This Original Petition has been filed seeking to terminate the mandate of the Arbitrator who entered a reference in dispute emanated from the agreement dated 11/2005-2006 consequent to the letter of acceptance issued by the 1st Respondent.

2. The petitioner has entered into an agreement of contract dated 29.07.2015 with the 1st respondent for upgrading Virudhachalam/ Parangipettai State Highways No.SH 70 for a contract price of Rs.165,41,09,975/-. The date of commencement of contract period is 33 months. On 23.7.2018 notice of termination was issued by the petitioner upon recommendations from the authority engineer on 11.6.2018. Thereafter, the dispute arose between the parties. The petitioner has invoked the bank guarantee, as against which a suit was filed by the 1st Respondent before the City Civil Court in O.S.No.7525 of 2018. Thereafter, Application under Section 8 of the Act was