Arbitrator Appointment – Joint application or clubbing of applications is not maintainable
The applicant Nos.1 to 87 – owners of cotton Ginning and Pressing factories have filed the petition for appointment of Arbitrator against the Respondent No.1. The applicants have entered into a separate agreement with the respondents for supply for cotton.
In September, 2021, the notices were issued that in the testing of sample cotton drawn from the factories of the applicants, presence of cotton trash beyond permissible limits was found. Therefore, recovery was sought by way of recovery or by imposing fresh recoveries.
The applicants wrote to the respondents for appointment of Arbitrator since in a similar matter such an appointment to resolve the disputes was made.
HELD that the scope of application under Section 11(6) is very limited, there is no question of any application of the Code of Civil Procedure and joint application of different owners for appointment of Arbitrator is not maintainable. The applications cannot be clubbed together considering the nature of the contract of cotton of a certain standard and quality supplied by the petitioners and deduction was made on account of excess trash found in the supply. Each case would be based on what is the trash found in the cotton supply after its processing.
Judgment dated 5.4.2025 of the High Court of Bombay, Nagpur Bench, in Misc. Civil Application (Arbitration) No.1166 of 2023 of Salasar Cotex and 85 others Vs. The Maharashtra State Cooperative Cotton Growers’ Marketing Federation Ltd.
