JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH

Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been filed by the Petitioners-National Research Development Corporation (hereinafter, ‘NRDC’) and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (hereinafter, ‘DSIR’) under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. NRDC is an enterprise of DSIR and is involved in the Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (hereinafter, ‘TDDP’).

3. The Respondent-company is engaged in manufacturing drugs and intermediates, established in 2006. Its director approached the Petitioners with a proposal to develop a rapid molecular diagnostics kit for malaria detection. A royalty agreement dated 18^th October, 2011 was entered into between the Petitioners and the respondent, outlining the development of the 1 malaria diagnostics kit, including design, standardization, validation, and expenses estimation. As per the said royalty agreement, the Respondent is also liable to transfer the ‘know-how document’ and other improvements if they fail to commercialize the technology within