M/S Mecon Ltd vs Jharkhand Micro And Small Scale ...
2023 Latest Caselaw 638 Jhar

      IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
                (Letters Patent Appellate Jurisdiction)

                               LPA No. 400 of 2022

M/s MECON Ltd.                                            ....    Appellant
                               Versus
Jharkhand Micro and Small Scale Enterprises Facilitation Council, Ranchi
and Another                                            .... Respondents

                        ------

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHREE CHANDRASHEKHAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RATNAKER BHENGRA

-------

For the Appellant : Mr. Navniti Prasad Singh, Sr. Advocate Mr. Ajit Kumar, Sr. Advocate Mr. Shresth Gautam, Advocate Mr. Rajarshi Singh, Advocate Mr. Abhijeet Tushar, Advocate Mr. Yogendra Yadav, Advocate For the Respondent No.1 : Mr. Ashok Kumar Yadav, Advocate For the Respondent No.2 : Mr. Vimal Kirti Singh, Advocate Mr. Siddharth Singh, Advocate Mr. Rahul Lamba, Advocate Mr. Aditya Khandelwal, Advocate

--------

Order No.07/Dated: 7th February 2023 A compilation of the judgments and written submissions has been filed by the appellant.

Mr. Navniti Prasad Singh, the learned senior counsel for the appellant has inter alia raised the following grounds to challenge the award contained in memo no. 1630 dated 24 th August 2021 and, thus, in turn to challenge the writ Court's order dated 12th August 2022: (i) M/s N.P. Construction which was not registered under section 8 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (in short, MSME Act) could not have invoked the provisions of the MSME Act and the MSME council has no jurisdiction to entertain the claim petition filed by M/s N.P. Construction and (ii) the mandatory provisions under sub-sections 2 and 3 of section 18 of the MSME Act were not followed inasmuch as there was no conciliation exercise undertaken by the MSME council and without following the procedure as prescribed under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 the award has been made.

On the aforesaid grounds, it is submitted that the award passed

by the MSME council is a nullity, a fact which was ignored by the writ Court while dismissing the writ petition holding the same as not maintainable.

In support to the aforesaid submissions, the learned senior counsel has referred the judgments in "Silpi Industries v. KSRTC" 2021 SCC Online SC 439, "Vaishno Enterprises v. Hamilton" 2022 SCC Online SC 355, "Jharkhand Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. v. State of Rajasthan" 2021 SCC Online 1257 and "Principal Chief Engineer v. Manibhai and Brothers (Sleeper)" 2012 SCC Online Guj. 2422.

For reply on behalf of the respondent no.2, post this matter tomorrow i.e. on 8th February 2023.

Part heard.

(Shree Chandrashekhar, J.)

(Ratnaker Bhengra, J.)

RKM/