Delhi High Court appoints sole arbitrator in gas supply dispute, invalidates previous arbitration clause in view of CORE judgement

The Delhi High Court in the case Indraprastha Gas Limited Versus M/S Chintamani Food And Snacks observed that an arbitration agreement which contemplated the appointment of the sole Arbitrator to be made out of a panel of three persons chosen by the petitioner was no longer valid in view of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Central Organisation for Railway Electrification Vs. ECI SPIC SMO MCML, JV A Joint Venture Company.

The bench headed by Justice Sachin Datta appointed a sole arbitrator in order to adjudicate the disputes between the parties upon determination of the existence of the arbitration agreement.

FACTS OF THE CASE
A Gas Supply Agreement, GSA dated March 05, 2018 was executed between the Petitioner i.e., the Indraprastha Gas Limited and the Respondent i.e., the M/s Chintamani Food and Snacks for the supply of Piped Natural Gas, PNG.

The petitioner in the plea states that the date of commissioning of the Piped Natural Gas, PNG supply i.e., August 25, 2012, until October 2020, thus, the respondent was using PNG on a post-paid basis.

In October 2020, the respondent switched to a prepaid gas service plan.