On the pre-existing dispute argument, the NCLT held that the 2004 arbitration concerned earlier disputes and did not relate to the EIRL works, which were assigned and completed later.
As no dispute regarding the present claim was raised prior to the demand notice, the tribunal held that CNNL failed the Mobilox test for demonstrating a pre-existing dispute.
Its belated replies of December 2020 and February 2021 lacked specific objections to the EIRL claim and could not cure that defect, the tribunal ruled.
“Applying this established jurisprudence to the facts of the present case, we find that the Respondent’s reliance on the pendency of an unrelated arbitration and its vague characterization of the EIRL debt as “disputed” do not satisfy…