Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996
Section 11(6)—Appointment of nominee arbitrator—Period of limitation for filing application—Applicant had entered into concession agreement with statutory body for a project—Arbitration clause inserted into agreement subsequent to an amendment—No provision in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act specifying the period of limitation for filing an application under Section 11 of the Act and therefore, one would have to take recourse to the Limitation Act—Limitation period of three years for filing an arbitration application would commence from the date when cause of action arose—For purpose of cause of action, limitation has to be calculated from the date of assertion of claim—Once the applicant has asserted its claim and the respondents fails to respond to such claim, such failure will be treated as a denial of the applicant's claim giving rise to a dispute—Whether the applicant’s claim is barred by lapse of time is a matter which requires to be decided by the Arbitral Tribunal at the time of making an order under Section 20 of the Act—As per arbitration clause, arbitration shall be conducted by a panel of three arbitrators, each party shall appoint one arbitrator and two arbitrators shall mutually appoint presiding arbitrator—Nominal arbitrator appointed on behalf of the applicant—Since the respondents failed to appoint the nominee arbitrator on their behalf within a period of 15 days from the date of request from the applicant, the present court deems it appropriate to appoint nominee arbitrator on behalf of respondent under Section 11(6) of the Act—Both the nominee arbitrator on behalf of applicant and nominee arbitrator on behalf of the respondents, shall appoint the Presiding Arbitrator.
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