ORDER

1. This application under section 14 read with sections 11 and 15 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act of 1996” for short) has been filed by the petitioner-Ellora Paper Mills Limited, seeking termination of the mandate of originally constituted Arbitral Tribunal and appointment of a new Arbitrator.

2. Facts of the case, as averred in the application, are that the petitioner Company is engaged in manufacturing of printing and writing paper of various grades. Its plant is located in Maharashtra State. The respondent issued a tender for supply of the cream wove paper and duplicating paper for the year 1993-94. The petitioner participated in the said tender process and was awarded contract for supply of 1510MT of Cream Wove and 238 MT of Duplicating Paper aggregating 1748 MT vide supply order dated 22.9.1993. According to the terms of the payment, 90% of the amount was to be paid by the respondent immediately after receipt of paper and balance 10% after receipt of the test report. According to the petitioner, it supplied 420 MT of cream wove and 238 MT of duplicating paper to the respondent but the respondent not only did not make the payment of 90% of the amount, as per the terms of the contract, but also rejected some consignment without any justification, causing huge loss to the petitioner. The respondent vide letter dated 15.11.1993 informed the petitioner that the paper supplied by them does not conform to the specification and therefore cannot be utilized. The petitioner made several representations to the respondent in the year 1993 seeking details and asserting that the paper meets the requirements which failed to invoke any response, much less positive response. The petitioner then filed a civil suit in the year 1994 for permanent injunction against the respondent in the civil Court at Bhopal seeking to restrain them from awarding the supply order to the third party. The respondent, however, in the meantime, awarded the said contract to the third party for remaining supply and therefore, the said suit became infructuous. The petitioner therefore filed another suit seeking recovery of an amount of Rs.95,32,103/- bearing Civil Suit No.2-B/98 before the civil Court, Bhopal. During the pendency of the said suit, the respondent preferred an application under section 8 of the Act of 1996 seeking stay of the proceedings on the ground that there exists an arbitration clause in the agreement between the parties. The civil Court however rejected the said application vide order dated 27.2.1999. The respondent then filed Revision Petition No.1117/1999 before this Court which was allowed vide order dated 3.5.2000. This Court referred the parties to the arbitration by Stationery Purchase Committee comprising of the officers of the respondent. Against the said order of this Court, the petitioner filed Special Leave Petition bearing SLP (C) No.13914/2000 before the Supreme Court, which however was dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 28.9.2000. The respondent constituted the Arbitral Tribunal, styled as Stationery Purchase Committee comprising their officers. The petitioner filed its objection to the constitution of the Arbitral Committee on 12.9.2000. The petitioner also challenged its jurisdiction by filing an application under section 13 of the Act of 1996. The learned Arbitral Tribunal however vide order dated 2.2.2001 rejected the said application of the petitioner. Aggrieved thereby the petitioner filed a writ petition bearing W.P. No.1824/2001 before this Court which however was dismissed vide order dated 24.1.2017 with liberty to the petitioner to raise objections before the appropriate forum. In the meanwhile, the National Company Law Tribunal admitted and initiated the proceedings against the petitioner under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process was commenced which ultimately culminated on its approval on 26.6.2018.

3. Shri Sandeep