Authority: Supreme Court of India, Civil Original Jurisdiction
Order Date: August 24, 2026
Case Overview
- Petition No.43 of 2025 filed under Section 11(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seeking appointment of a sole arbitrator.
- Parties: Petitioner – Best Organic Ingredients Pty. Ltd., an Australian company dealing in organic food products (including vanilla beans); Respondent – Expovan, an Indian partnership firm, together with its partners and Head of Business Development.
- Background: Expovan purchased vanilla beans from Best Organic but began defaulting on payments from July 2020.
- A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) dated May 26, 2024 (also referenced as May 24, 2024) was executed, wherein Expovan acknowledged an outstanding liability of USD 500,000 and committed to settle the amount through staggered payments by the third week of June 2024. Clause 7 of the MOU stipulated that unresolved disputes would be referred to arbitration seated in India, with English as the language of arbitration.
- Expovan failed to honor the payment schedule, and mutual discussions did not resolve the dispute. Consequently, Best Organic issued an arbitration notice on December 20, 2024, proposing Mr. Ashish Batra, Advocate, as arbitrator. No response was received from Expovan.
- The petitioner therefore approached the Supreme Court for appointment of a sole arbitrator.
Final Outcome
- The Court allowed the arbitration petition and appointed Justice R Suresh Kumar, former Judge of the Madras High Court, as the Sole Arbitrator to adjudicate the dispute.
- The seat and venue of arbitration were fixed at Chennai, India; the language of the proceedings remains English.
- The arbitrator is granted liberty to fix his own remuneration/fees.
- All pending interlocutory applications, if any, were disposed of.
- The order bears the signatures of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.
- The hearing on 24‑08‑2026 was conducted before a bench comprising the Chief Justice and the two Justices, with counsel for the petitioner (Mr. Raghav Sabharwal, AOR; Mr. Ayush Shrivastava, Adv.; Mr. Dharmesh Shersia, Adv.; Mr. Mohd Saqib, Adv.) and counsel for the respondent (Mr. Pranab Prakash, AOR).
Topics: Arbitration, International Trade Dispute