MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF DELHI vs M/S ALMASS INDIA

Judgment text excerpt

$~29 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 20.03.2025 + EFA(COMM) 12/2024 CM APPL. 66669/2024 MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF DELHI .....Appellant Through: Ms Jagrati Singh, SC, Ms Rajpal, Mr Surender Kumar and Mr Praveen Kumar and Ms Vani Sharma, Advocates for MCD. versus M/S ALMASS INDIA .....Respondent Through: Mr G C Pandey, Advocate for M/s.Almass India. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIBHU BAKHRU HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TEJAS KARIA VIBHU BAKHRU, J. (ORAL) 1. The appellant [MCD] has filed the present appeal, inter alia, impugning an order dated 23.04.2024 passed by the learned Commercial Court whereby the Commercial Court had declined the appellant’s prayer for enforcement of an arbitral award dated 20.01.2020 [impugned award] on the ground that it was rendered by an arbitrator, who was appointed unilaterally by the MCD without concurrence or consultation of the respondent. 2. The learned Commercial Court following the decision of this court in Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. v. Narendra Kumar Prajapat: Neutral Citation No.: 2023:DHC:3705-DB had rejected MCD’s application [being 13EX439/20] captioned North Delhi Municipal Corporation v. M/s Almass EFA(COMM) 12/2024 Page 1 of 11 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:TARUN RANA Signing Date:27.03.2025 17:13:44 India Thr. Its Partner Jatin Chopra for execution of the arbitral award dated 20.01.2020. 3. On 07.11.2014, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which has since merged with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi [MCD] had invited tenders from Advertising Contractors for awarding the contract for display of advertisements of a size of 20 feet x 08 feet on a Unipole at a site described as “S. No.60, Opposite Kali Mandir, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, FTC Minto Road to ITO (New Site)” [subject site]. 4. The respo