Supreme Court Appoints Ex-CJI DY Chandrachud As Mediator In Commercial Dispute

The Supreme Court on Friday (Sep.19) appointed former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud to act as a mediator in a dispute between two companies over ownership of 170,000 MT of iron ore in Sihora, Jabalpur. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan passed an order while hearing Euro Pratik Ispat Ltd.'s appeal against the MP High Court's decision, which reversed with the Commercial Court's order returning the plaint because of non-compliance of Section 12A of the Commercial Court Act, 2015. The dispute originated from the Commercial Court's decision to return the plaint filed by Geomin Industries Pvt Ltd for failing to comply with Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, which requires pre-litigation mediation except in cases involving urgent interim relief. On appeal, the High Court overturned this ruling, finding that Geomin's request for an injunction to stop Euro Pratik from selling or transferring the iron ore squarely qualified as a case of genuine urgency.Following this, an appeal was filed by Euro Pratik Ispat Ltd. before the Supreme Court. Instead of adjudicating the contentious legal question of Section 12A's application, the Court chose a pragmatic course, noting that the dispute was “long drawn and getting murkier”, which needs to be mediated by a former Judge of the Supreme Court. “we are of the view that this long drawn litigation between the parties which is getting murkier and murkier day-by-day could be brought to an end if the parties are persuaded to go for mediation before any Former Judge of this Court, more particularly considering the nature of the disputes between them and the stakes involved therein.”, the court said.Senior Advocate Dr AM Singhvi (for appellant) and Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium (for respondent) agreed to go for mediation.After a proposal for referring the matter to mediation was conceded by both the parties, the Court appointed Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, former Chief Justice of India to act as a Mediator between the parties and resolve the disputes. “In the meantime, both the parties are directed to maintain status-quo. If there are any proceedings pending between the parties, civil or criminal, those proceedings shall remain stayed till the report of the Mediator is received and further orders are passed by this Court.”, the Court added.The fees etc. of the learned Mediator shall be fixed in consultation of the parties, the Court said.Cause Title: EURO PRATIK ISPAT (INDIA) PRIVATE LIMITED VERSUS GEOMIN INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED & ORS. Click here to read the orderAppearance: For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Diwakar Maheshwari, Adv. Mr. Edupuganti Shreyas, AOR Mr. Karan Bhootra, Adv. For Respondent(s) : Mr. Gopal Subramanium, Sr. Adv. Mr. Siddhartha Shukla, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma, AOR Ms. Shamila Iram Fatima, Adv. Mr. Vishal Sinha, Adv. Mr. Raghav Kohli, Adv. Ms. Gauri Subramanium, Adv.

Supreme Court Appoints Ex-CJI DY Chandrachud As Mediator In Commercial Dispute

Yash Mittal

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