Calcutta High CourtM/S. Singh Caterers And Vendors vs Indian Railway Catering And Tourism ... on 1 August, 2023Author:Moushumi BhattacharyaBench:Moushumi BhattacharyaOD-3\n                                 ORDER SHEET\n\n                                  AP/487/2023\n\n                      IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA\n                       Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction\n                                ORIGINAL SIDE\n\n                M/S. SINGH CATERERS AND VENDORS\n                               VS\n   INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LTD. ORS.\n\n\n  BEFORE:\n  The Hon'ble JUSTICE MOUSHUMI BHATTACHARYA\n  Date : 1st August, 2023.\n\n                                                                        Appearance:\n                                                          Mr. Priyankar Saha, Adv.\n                                                         Ms. Srijani Mukherjee, Adv.\n                                                              Mr. L.R. Mondal, Adv.\n                                                                  ...for the petitioner\n\n                                                             Mr. Akash Dutta, Adv.\n                                                         ...for the respondent IRCTCThe Court: The dispute arises out of a letter dated 31st January, 2014 by\n\nwhich the respondent Railways awarded a contract for pantry car catering\n\nservices on a particular train to the petitioner. The contract, which was initially\n\nfor five years, was renewed on 30th January, 2019 with effect from 21st\n\nFebruary, 2019 to 20th February, 2024. The renewal was followed by a Rider\n\nAgreement dated 23rd June, 2022 only for the purpose of allowing IRCTC to\n\ncome in in place of the Railways. Clause 2 of the Rider Agreement provides that\n\nthe terms and conditions of the Rider Agreement shall prevail over the Master\n\nLicence Agreement dated 31st July, 2014 (according to counsel this should be\n\n31st January, 2014 and not 31st July, 2014).2The Master Licence Agreement is the letter which has been referred to for\n\nawarding the contract in the first part of this order.Clause 8.4 of the Master Licence Agreement/letter dated 31st January,\n\n2014 significantly provides for increase/decrease of the licence fee payable by\n\nthe petitioner to the Railways on a pro rata basis upon revision of framed\n\nschedules and increase/decrease of the frequency of train services.The dispute arises out of a letter of demand made by the Railways on the\n\npetitioner on 4th January, 2023 in alleged disregard of the fall in the number of\n\ntrains during the COVID pandemic. The respondent raised a claim of Rs.1.7\n\ncrores whereas the petitioner stated in its letter of 9th February, 2023 that\n\nthere was actually a 90% drop in sales following the reduction in the number of\n\ntrains during the pandemic. The petitioner accordingly requested for revision in\n\nthe licence fee in accordance with Clause 8.4 of the Master Licence Agreement.The petitioner also invoked the arbitration clause by way of a notice\n\ndated 23rd March, 2023 for appointment of Arbitrator. The arbitration clause is\n\ncontained in Clause 20.2 of the Master Licence Agreement. The respondent did\n\nnot reply to the notice of invocation of the arbitration clause.The respondent is represented and learned counsel places a letter of 21st\n\nApril, 2022 by which, according to counsel, the respondent had indicated the\n\nreduced licence fee to the petitioner.Since this letter was issued much before the disputed letter of 4th\n\nJanuary, 2023 whereby the respondent raised a demand of Rs.1.7 crores on\n\nthe petitioner, the earlier letter becomes of little relevance.3There is obviously a dispute between the parties since the petitioner\n\nclaims the benefit of Clause 8.4 of the Agreement for reduction of the rate of\n\nlicence fee chargeable on the petitioner whereas the respondent says otherwise.The letter of demand of the respondent would show the dispute raised on\n\nbehalf of the respondent.Given the facts recorded, the disputes between the parties are directly\n\nrelatable to the Master Licence Agreement of 31st January, 2014. The letters\n\nexchanged between the parties are till April, 2023. An Arbitrator is hence to be\n\nappointed to resolve these disputes.AP/487/2023 is accordingly allowed and disposed of by appointing\n\nMr. Narayan Chandra Sil, former Judge of this Court (Mob : 9830547037) to\n\nact as the learned Arbitrator to resolve the disputes and differences between\n\nthe parties subject to the Arbitrator communicating his/her consent in the\n\nprescribed format under the 1996 Act read with the Schedules to the learned\n\nRegistrar, Original Side within three weeks from date.The advocate-on-record of the petitioner shall communicate this order on\n\nthe learned Arbitrator by 3rd August, 2023 with the relevant details of the\n\ncontact person.(MOUSHUMI BHATTACHARYA, J.)\n\n\n\nR.Bhar