M/S R. K. ASSOCIATES AND HOTELIERS PVT. LTD. vs INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LIMITED (IRCTC)

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on:16th January, 2026 Pronounced on:19th January, 2026 + ARB. A. (COMM.) 11/2026, I.A. 1249/2026, I.A. 1250/2026 & I.A. 1251/2026 M/S R. K. ASSOCIATES AND HOTELIERS PVT. LTD. .....Appellant Through: Mr. Sandeep Sethi and Mr. Sudhir Makkar, Sr. Advs. with Mr. Jasmeet Singh, Mr. Mahinder Singh Hura, Mr. Saif Ali, Mr. Pushpendra S. Bhadoriya, Mr. Vijay Sharma, Mr. Krisna Gambhir, Ms. Shreya Sethi, Ms. Riya Kumar, Mr. Akhilesh Kumar, Ms. Aadhya Shrotriya, Ms. Sanya C. Oberoi, Mr. Pranav Menon, Mr. Saurav and Mr. Ajith Willyams, Advocates Mob: 9910159955 Email: [email protected] versus INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LIMITED (IRCTC) .....Respondent Through: Mr. Saurav Agrawal and Mr. Rajat Malhotra, Advocates with Mr. Saksham Gupta, Ms. Madhu K. Singh, Ms. Kiran Devrani, Mr. Anshuman Chowdhary, Ms. Nikita Rathi and Mr. Parmeet Singh, Advocates Mob: 9953769317 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed ARB. A. (COMM.) 11/2026 Page 1 of 18 By:HARIOM SHARMA Signing Date:19.01.2026 17:22:24 CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MINI PUSHKARNA JUDGMENT 1. The present appeal has been filed under Section 37 (2)(b) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Arbitration Act”) against the interim order dated 12th January, 2026 (“impugned order”) passed by the learned Sole Arbitrator in Delhi International Arbitration Centre (“DIAC”) Case Ref No. DIAC/12174/12-25. By way of the impugned order, the learned Arbitrator has dismissed the application of the appellant filed under Section 17 of the Arbitration Act. 2. The facts, as canvassed before this Court, are as follows: 2.1 Tender bearing no. 2024/IRCTC/P&T/CLUSTER/FEB/ECoR/ CLT/A-1 came to be floated by the respondent, i.e., Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporat