Northn. Rly. Admn., Min.Of Railway, N.D vs Patel Engineering Company Ltd

The Supreme Court referred the matter concerning the appointment of arbitrators under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to a larger bench due to conflicting views in previous judgments, specifically Ace Pipeline Contracts (P) Ltd. v. Bharat Petroleum Corpn. Ltd. and Union of India v. Bharat Battery Mfg. Co. The Court emphasized that the agreed procedure for appointing arbitrators must be exhausted before resorting to judicial intervention, and that the qualifications for arbitrators must be considered as per Section 11(8). The outcome is a referral for clarification on the interpretation of these statutory provisions.