214 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH ARB-1-2026 Date of decision : 13.02.2026 M/s Oasis Projects Limited …….Applicant Versus State of Punjab and others ….Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHEEL NAGU, CHIEF JUSTICE Present: Mr. Rohan Markanda, Advocate, for the applicant.

Mr. Salil Sabhlok, Senior DAG, Punjab.

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SHEEL NAGU, CHIEF JUSTICE

1. Instant application u/s 11 (6) of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘1996 Act’ for brevity), seeks appointment of Arbitrator.

2. Reply has not been filed on behalf of the respondents.

3. The rival parties herein entered into agreement dated 09.03.2021 (Annexure P-2) containing an arbitration clause as follows :

“25. DISPUTES RESOLUTION MECHANISM i. If any dispute or differences of any kind what-so-ever arise between the Government, its authorized representatives and the Contractor in connection with or arising out of this contract or the execution of work, these shall be resolved as under.

ii. Whether before its commencement or during the progress of Project/Work or after the termination, abandonment or breach of the contract, the dispute shall in the first instance supported with complete documents and further documents, if any, required by him, be referred for settlement to the Engineer of the work and he shall, within a period of sixty (60) days after being requested in writing by the Contractor to do so, convey his decision to the Contractor. Such decision in respect of every matter so referred shall, subject to arbitration as hereinafter provided, be final and binding upon the Contractor. In case the work is already in process, the Contractor shall continue with the execution of the work as aforesaid with all due diligence, whether any of the parties requires arbitration as hereinafter provided or not.

iii. If the Engineer has conveyed his decision to the Contractor and no claim for arbitration has been filed by the Contractor within a period of sixty (60) days from the receipt of the letter communicating the decision, the said decision shall be final and binding upon the Contractor and will not be a subject matter of arbitration at all.

iv. If the Engineer fails to convey his decision within a period of sixty (60) days from the date on which the said request was made by the Contractor, he may refer the dispute for arbitration as hereinafter provided.

v. All disputes or differences in respect of which the decision is not final and conclusive shall, at the request of either party made in communication sent through registered A.D. post, be referred for arbitration as per following:

a. For original contract of the value upto Rs. 5.00 Crore, the disputes shall be referred to the sole arbitration of the Superintending Engineer of the concerned circle of Public Works Department, Buildings and Roads Branch acting as such at the time of reference unless debarred from acting as an Arbitrator by an order of the Punjab Government, in which event, the Employer shall appoint any other Superintending Engineer of the department to act as an arbitrator on receipt of a request from either party.

b. For original contract of the value more than Rs. 5.00 Crore and upto Rs. 15.00 Crore, the disputes shall be referred to the sole arbitration of any other Superintending Engineer of the department to be appointed by the Employer c. For original contracts of the value more than Rs. 15.00 Crore, the disputes shall be referred to the Arbitral Tribunal consisting of three (3) members. The composition of tribunal will be as under :

•One official member, Chairman of the Tribunal, who shall be a serving Chief Engineer of PWD (B&R) other than the Chief Engineer incharge of the work. The appointment of the chairmanship of the Tribunal shall be done by the Employer.

•One official member, not below the rank of Superintending Engineer (serving) of the Punjab PWD (B&R) to be appointed by the Employer and •One non-official member, who will be a technical expert, not below the rank of Superintending Eng