Authority: Supreme Court of India, Civil Original Jurisdiction
Order Date: 24 August 2026
Case Overview
- Petitioner: Best Organic Ingredients Pty. Ltd., an Australian company engaged in trade and supply of organic food products, including vanilla beans.
- Respondents: Expovan, an Indian partnership firm, its partners, and the firm's Head of Business Development.
- The dispute originates from a Memorandum of Understanding dated 26 May 2024, under which Expovan acknowledged an outstanding payment of USD 500,000 to the petitioner and committed to settle it through staggered payments by the third week of June 2024.
- Expovan failed to make the agreed payments; subsequent attempts at amicable resolution also failed.
- The petitioner issued an arbitration notice on 20 December 2024, proposing Advocate Ashish Batra as arbitrator; the respondents did not respond.
- Consequently, the petitioner filed Arbitration Petition No. 43 of 2025 under Section 11(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seeking appointment of a sole arbitrator.
Final Outcome
- The Court allowed the petition and appointed Justice R Suresh Kumar, former Judge of the Madras High Court, as the sole arbitrator.
- The seat and venue of arbitration were fixed at Chennai, India.
- The arbitrator was granted liberty to determine his own remuneration/fees.
- All pending interlocutory applications, if any, were disposed of.
Topics: Arbitration, Cross‑border Trade Dispute