JUDGMENT

1. The Petitioner seeks to challenge an Order dated 03.01.2023 passed by the Arbitral Tribunal which has been constituted for adjudicating disputes between Respondent No.1/ Rugby Renergy Private Limited and Respondent No.2/ India Power Corporation Limited.

2. The facts leading to the present the case are as under:-

i. The Petitioner is an equipment finance company. The operations of the Petitioner company are being conducted by an Administrator appointed by the Reserve Bank of India.

ii. It is stated that the Petitioner has given on lease, equipment to Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 2724/2023 Page 1 of 13 Respondent No.2 which manufactures electricity by using wind energy. For the said purpose, a master lease agreement had been entered into between the Petitioner and Respondent No.2 on 01.11.2016. The said agreement has its own dispute resolution mechanism under Clause 21. It is stated that the Master Lease Agreement dated 01.11.2016 which was in force till 03.04.2023 was entered into by the Petitioner with Respondent No 2, whereby the Petitioner had agreed to give the wind business equipment on lease to Respondent No.2 in return for payment from the receivables generated from the operation of the said wind business. The wind business was operated on lands owned by the State of Gujarat, which were leased to Enercon India Limited which was further sub-leased to Respondent No.2. Respondent No.2 had also entered into power purchase agreement with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited for sale of the power produced via operation of the wind business.

iii. An Operations and Maintenance Agreement was also entered into by the Petitioner with Wind World India Limited for providing Operations and Maintenance support for the leased wind assets of the Petitioner and regular monthly charges for the same are paid by the Petitioner out of lease revenues received from Respondent No.2.

iv. Respondent No.1 herein entered into a Term Sheet Agreement dated 20.01.2021 with the Petitioner for sale of this wind business and on the very same dated Respondent No.1 herein also entered into another Term Sheet agreement with Respondent No.2 herein Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 2724/2023 Page 2 of 13 for transfer of wind business contracts being the Sub Lease Agreement with Enercon India Limited and the Power Purchase Agreement with the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited.

v. Insolvency proceedings were initiated by the RBI against the Petitioner under Section 227 read with Section 239(2)(zk) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, by filing an Application bearing No. CP (IB)294/KB/2021 before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Kolkata and the said application was admitted on 08.10.2021.

vi. On 29.07.22, upon the commencement of the insolvency proceedings, Respondent No.2 expressed its inability to proceed ahead with the Term Sheet Agreement dated 20.01.2021 with Respondent No.1 which was contended to have come to an end due to efflux of time.

vii. It is stated that a petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, being OMP(I)(COMM) No.236/2022, was preferred by the Respondent No.1 against Respondent No.2 before this Court and Order dated 03.08.2022 was passed by this Court directing Respondent No.2 to maintain status quo with regard to the revenue arising out of the Wind Power Project from

01.01.2021 onwards, as an interim measure.

viii. Subsequently, vide Order dated 06.09.2022, Respondents No.1 and 2 were referred to arbitration by this Court before the learned Arbitral Tribunal and an interim order was passed on 03.08.2022 which was to continue till the first date of hearing before the learned Arbitrator. In view of the above proceedings, Respondent Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 2724/2023 Page 3 of 13 No.2 vide letter dated 27.09.22 expressed its inability to pay the lease rentals payable from the receivables any further to the Petitioner as payable under the Master Lea