ARB.P. 255/2026 $~4 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI # CNR No. DLHC010043582026 + ARB.P. 255/2026 BROADCAST ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS INDIA LIMITED .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Shashank Dixit and Mr. Kunal Raj, Advocates. versus INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATION DEPARTMENT LUCKNOW .....Respondent Through: Mr. Jayesh Pandey and Mr. Himanshu Chugh, Advocates. CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE JYOTI SINGH O R D E R % 25.09.2026 I.A. 3472/2026 (Exemption) 1. Allowed, subject to all just exceptions. 2. Application stands disposed of. ARB.P. 255/2026 3. This petition is filed on behalf of the Petitioner under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘1996 Act’) for appointment of a Sole Arbitrator pertaining to disputes arising from an agreement executed between the parties on 20.05.2021. 4. Learned counsel for the Respondent submits that the petition deserves to be dismissed being premature since Petitioner has not exhausted the pre-arbitral mechanism before filing the present petition and even otherwise, This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 05/10/2026 at 11:46:26 ARB.P. 255/2026 the claims are time barred and dead wood. It is urged that the agreement contains a comprehensive dispute resolution mechanism under Clause 13 and parties consciously agreed that arbitration will not be the first recourse if the disputes arose and they shall first refer the disputes to the Government of Uttar Pradesh and BECIL for amicable settlement, each party nominating two persons for the said purpose and only if amicable settlement failed within the stipulated period, either party could invoke arbitration. For ready reference, Clause 13 is as follows:- “Any dispute shall be initially be referred to the UP Govt. and BECIL for amicable settlement. Both Parties shall nominate two persons within ten days of arising of dispute/ receipt of notice for dispute. In case no amicable settlement is arrived at within 30 days, then any party may refer the dispute to a Sole Arbitrator to be nominated by Information and Public Relation Department, Lucknow, UP Govt / BECIL. The place of arbitration shall be New Delhi. All arbitration proceedings shall be conducted in English and in accordance with the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, as amended from time to time. The Arbitration award will be final and binding upon the parties, and each party will bear its own costs of arbitration and equally share the fees of the arbitral tribunal unless the arbitral tribunal decides otherwise. Arbitration proceedings shall be held in India at New Delhi and the language of the Arbitration proceedings and that of all documents and communications between the Parties shall be English.” 5. No rejoinder has been filed by the Petitioner traversing the aforesaid preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition by the Respondent in the reply to the petition. Counsel for the Petitioner is unable to dispute that the parties had agreed to refer the disputes for amicable settlement to the authorities mentioned in Clause 13. 6. On a perusal of the said clause, this Court is of the view that the parties consciously agreed that if disputes arose under or in relation to agreement dated 20.05.2021, they shall first take recourse to amicably This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 05/10/2026 at 11:46:26 ARB.P. 255/2026 settling their disputes by referring them to UP Government and BECIL and both parties will nominate two persons each for the said purpose within ten days and only on failure of settlement talks, recourse will be taken to adjudication of disputes through arbitration. The clause is mandatory and not directory by its plain reading. Evidently, Petitioner has not taken recourse to the mechanism of amicable settlement of the disputes in terms of the dispute resolution clause and hence, this petition is premature. 7. Accordingly, without entering into the merits of the disputes, including the objection of the Respondent that the claims of the Petitioner are allegedly time barred or dead wood, this petition is disposed of, granting liberty to the Petitioner to take recourse to the pre-arbitral mechanism, agreed upon between the parties. Needless to state that if the Petitioner seeks reference of the disputes for amicable settlement to the authorities designated in Clause 13, the exercise shall be completed within eight weeks by the concerned authorities from the date of reference. 8. All rights and contentions of the parties are left open. JYOTI SINGH, J SEPTEMBER 25, 2026 S.Sharma This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 05/10/2026 at 11:46:26