CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the Sai University, a self-financing institution for higher education, to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 3.29 crore for a period of six months in connection with an arbitration case filed by a catering service provider, Rassense Private Limited.
The order was issued by Justice K Kumaresh Babu on the arbitration application filed by the catering service provider following a dispute over default of payment invoice amount for the service it had rendered to the educational institution.
The judge also directed the applicant to comply with the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and initiate arbitration proceedings within eight weeks.
Appearing for the applicant, senior counsel Hasan Mohammed Jinnah, assisted by advocate A Damodaran, submitted that a third party and the respondent institution had entered into an agreement in 2022 for one year and continued even after the agreement period.
Due to certain internal restructuring, the applicant company entered into an agreement with the third party, and the respondent institution executed a deed of novation and thereafter the applicant provided the services to the institution.
However, he said, the respondent institution has not honoured the invoices accumulating to Rs 3.29 crore. Subsequently, the arbitration application was filed seeking a bank guarantee for protecting its interests.
For the unversed, a deed of novation is a legal document that replaces an old contract with a new one, transferring both rights and obligations to a new party while fully releasing the old party.
