THE HON’BLE JUSTICE B.R. MADHUSUDHAN RAO CIVIL REVISION PETITION No.3112 of 2023

ORDER:

1. This memorandum of Civil Revision Petition is filed under Article 227 of Constitution of India aggrieved by the order dated 13.04.2023 passed in I.A.No.982 of 2022 in O.S.No.729 of 2021 by the learned Senior Civil Judge, Ranga Reddy District at Kukatpally.

2.1 Petitioner is the plaintiff and respondent is the defendant No.1 in the suit. Respondent herein has filed I.A.No.982 of 2022 under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to refer the parties for adjudication through arbitration in terms of Clause 8 (b) of the Wework Membership Agreement dated 18.08.2020.

2.2 Respondent-petitioner-defendant No.1 has stated in the affidavit that owing to the superior quality of services provided, he has garnered substantial reputation and goodwill in the relevant market and has always been in conformity with the requirements of law. The petitioner-respondent-plaintiff, which is engaged in the business of software publishing, consultancy and supply, being desirous of obtaining the services of the respondent-petitioner- defendant No.1 approached the said party for provision of office spaces in February, 2020. Pursuant to the deliberations between the parties, Wework Membership Agreement dated 25.02.2020 was executed for provisions of office spaces. In terms of the said agreement, the agreement was to operate for a period of 24 months beginning from 01.05.2020. Subsequently, the respondent- petitioner-defendant No.1 was approached by the petitioner- respondent-plaintiff to revise the start date of the agreement and accordingly a fresh Wework Membership Agreement dated 24.04.2020 was executed between the parties for provision of office spaces. In terms of the said agreement, 19 work spaces were to be provided by the respondent-petitioner-defendant No.1 to the petitioner-respondent-plaintiff at Wework, Krishe Emerald, Kondapur Main Road, Laxmi Cyber City, Whitefields, Kondapur. The Membership Agreement stipulated that the agreement would be in operation for a period of 24 months beginning from

01.06.2020 to 31.05.2022.

2.3 In terms of the Transfer Agreement, the membership was transferred from a 19 seater office bearing No.02A118 to 44 seater office bearing No.04B102 at the premises and the Transfer Agreement was to operate for a period of 24 months from 01.07.2021 to 31.05.2023 and there is an arbitration Clause in both the agreements and prayed to refer the parties to the arbitration.

3. The petitioner-respondent-plaintiff has filed counter and opposed the application.

4. Learned trial Court, after going through the material on record has allowed I.A.No.982 of 2022 vide order dated 13.04.2023 referring both the parties to the suit to the arbitration to resolve their disputes and the differences arising out of the Membership Agreement which is impugned in the present C.R.P.

5.1 Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the direction of the learned trial Court is contrary to the relief sought in the main suit itself as the suit was filed seeking declaration of the documents to be null and void, whereas the final direction is based out of a Clause in the said document, which itself is challenged. Therefore, learned trial Court ought to have acknowledged that the suit was filed to declare the agreements as null and void and on the contrary, the trial Court gave effect to the Clause in the said agreements and the same is unlawful, illegal and contrary to law. The learned trial court already being aware of the pandemic that had happened during the tenure of the Wework Membership Agreement had utterly failed to appreciate the doctrine of frustration of contract, thereby, passing an order which is against the Law of Contracts.

5.2 Learned trial Court erred in not acknowledging that the plaintiffs therein had sought for declaration of documents as null and void, which also implies that the arbitration clause in the said documents would not survive