Bikaner House Attachment Case: Delhi HC rejects appeal against order of commercial court

New Delhi [India], January 23 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Thursday rejected the appeal moved by Nagar Palika Nokha against an order of a commercial court in an application related to an arbitrariness suit.
This matter is related to the execution of the amount of the Arbitration award passed in favour of a company M/s Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd. The trial court had issued a warrant of attachment of Bikaner House.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay on the ground of delay after noting that the challenge was passed in January 2024.
An Appeal under Section 13(1A) of the Commercial Courts Act read with Section 37(1)(c) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 against the order dated 24.01.2024 passed by Court of Ld. District Judge Commercial Court Patiala House Courts, New Delhi in OMP (Comm) whereby the Trial Court had dismissed the section 34 Application filed by the Appellant on the ground of limitation.
The present case is related to a tender awarded by the Appellant Nagar Palika Nokha to Enviro Infra Private Limited for the design, construction, and maintenance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs).
The plea stated that the dispute pertains to non-payment of dues allegedly owed to
the Respondent, which led to proceedings under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act (MSMED), 2006 culminating in an arbitral award against the Appellant Palika.
The Nagar Palika sought to challenge the order on various grounds, that the arbitration proceedings were conducted without jurisdiction since the Agreement of 22.11.2011
signed between the parties contained no arbitration clause, in violation of the agreement between the parties; that mandatory conciliation under Section 18 of the MSMED Act was vitiated due to improper notices.
It was also stated that the arbitral award was passed in violation of principles of natural justice, as the Appellant was not afforded proper opportunity for a hearing.
During the hearing, before the trial court, the court had asked the Nagar Palika Nokha to place on record if they get any stay order from the High Court.
The Nagar Palika had deposited the amount of Rs 92 Lakh with the court as per the direction. It was informed that the appellant was approaching the Higher court against the order.
The court said that the said amount will be released in the favour of Enviro Infra if the appellant Palika fails to get any stay order from the High Court.
The matter is listed for February 1 before the commercial court.
Earlier the commercial court had issued a warrant for attachment of Bikaner House. However, it was stated subject to payment of Arbitration award to the company. (ANI)