AIR 1988 SUPREME COURT 2232 ::(1989) 1 Ker LT 18 ::1988 SCC (Supp) 651 ::(1988) 4 JT 730 (SC)

Supreme Court Of India

(From : Madras)*

Hon'ble Judge(s): Sabyasachi Mukharji, S. Ranganathan , JJ

Arbitration Act (10 of 1940) , S.5— Named arbitrator - Removal of - Contract with Govt. - Certain superintending engineer named as arbitrator - Parties submitting to jurisdiction of incumbent at relevant time - Removal of his successor on ground that he being subordinate to Chief Engineer will have bias against contractor - Not justified. C.R.P. No. 3482 of 1984, D/-21-9-1984 (Mad), Reversed. Unless there is allegation against the named arbitrator either against his honesty or capacity or mala fide or interest in the subject matter or reasonable apprehension of the baias a named and agreed arbitrator cannot and should not be removed in exercise of a discretion vested in the Court under S.5. Reasonable apprehension of bias in the mind of a reasonable man can be a ground for removal of the arbitrator. A predisposition to decide for or against one party, without proper regard to the true merits of the dispute is bias. There must be reasonable apprehension of that predisposition. The reasonable apprehension must be based on cogent materials.(Para 11 12) Where a contract in respect of construction of certain Govt. work contained arbitration clause providing for arbitration by named Superintending Engineer and the contractor knowing the terms of the contract and the arbitration clause and the fact ....