In Brief
In a commercial dispute between a prawn feed supplier (Waterbase Ltd.) and a distributor (Sundarban Marine Products Pvt. Ltd.) under a 1994 Distributorship Agreement, the High Court appointed an arbitrator to resolve a claim of Rs. 95.99 lakhs. The Supreme Court set aside this appointment, holding that clause 15.1 of the agreement expressly allowed only the Distributor to refer disputes to arbitration—not the Supplier. The Court clarified that the Supplier retained recourse through clause 14, which gave both parties access to courts in Madras (Chennai) for adjudication of disputes.
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