Justice (Retd.) A.K. Sikri was appointed as the sole arbitrator by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait in the case of Jakson Power Pvt. Ltd. Versus Vikram Solar Pvt. Ltd. [ARB.P. 693/2021].
The facts of the present case are such that the petitioner agreed with the present respondent to purchase the Solar Photo Voltaic modules under the Special Purchase Agreement dated 06.08.2012. According to the present agreement the respondent is required to sell, supply, and deliver SPV modules in Rajasthan of technical specification amounting to Rs.100.625 crores between September 2012 to January 2013. The agreement between the parties was to purchase Solar Photo Voltaic modules under the Special Purchase Agreement dated 06.08.2012.
According to the petitioner, the respondents were informed that the products are of sub-standard quality and not generating the minimum amount of power guaranteed. The petitioner engaged an independent firm named “PV Diagnostics” to check the specification of the products, the firm found that the products were defective themselves, the report by the firm confirmed that the modules of the respondent were defective, has partial cracks, snail trails and also has bus bar corrosion in several places, thus in such circumstances, petitioner was constrained to send legal notice dated 17.02.2020 to the respondent for breach of Article 10 of the Agreement. Whereas the respondent’s claim is such that according to the site inspections committed by the respondent, the low power being generated by the product is due to the mishandling and mismanagement at the hands of the petitioner.
Thereafter the petitioner invoked the arbitrator and nominated its arbitrator, as per Clause 14 of the Agreement, read with section 21 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and nominated its Arbitrator, to which no response has been given by the respondent to date. The Parties had requested the present court to adjudicate the appointment of an arbitrator to adjudicate the dispute which is pending in front of the parties.
After the request of the parties, the present High Court is pressed to appoint an arbitrator to be appointed to settle the dispute between the parties. Accordingly Justice (Retd.) A.K. Sikri is appointed to adjudicate the present dispute. The fees of the present arbitrator shall be decided according to the fourth schedule of the arbitration and conciliation act, 1996, and in compliance with section 12 of the act. After this appointment, the present petition is dismissed by the High Court.
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Judgment Reviewed by: Ashwin Singh
