Govind Prasad Sharma & Ors. vs Doon Valley Officers Cooperative Housing Society Ltd

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 10786 OF 2017 (Arising out of S.L.P. (C) No. 9888 of 2015)

GOVIND PRASAD SHARMA & ORS. …APPELLANTS

VERSUS

DOON VALLEY OFFICERS COOPERATIVE HOUSING SOCIETY LTD …RESPONDENT

JUDGMENT

R.F. Nariman, J.

1) Leave granted.

2) The appellants are before us, against a judgment dated

12.12.2014, passed by the High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital,

in which a demarcation report made by a government agency, in

the course of conciliation proceedings between the parties, was

sought to be relied upon. The Special Judge at Dehradun,

Signature Not Verified specifically referring to Sections 75 and 81 of the Arbitration and Digitally signed by R.NATARAJAN Date: 2017.08.26 Conciliation Act, 1996, dismissed the Revision Petition on 11:42:59 IST Reason:

11.12.2012 that was filed against an order dated 06.12.2010, by 2

which an application by the plaintiff for taking the said report as

evidence was dismissed. Interfering with the said orders in a Writ

Petition filed, the impugned order has allowed the said report to be

admitted into evidence.

3) Mr. V. Hansaria, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf

of the appellants, has argued that Section 75 is in very wide terms

and that parties are to keep confidential all matters relating to

conciliation proceedings. He also referred to Section 81 of the Act,

and stated that parties cannot rely upon or introduce as evidence

in arbitral or judicial proceedings, proposals made by the

conciliator under sub-clause (c) from which the said report

emanated.

4) Mr. Hrishikesh Baruah, learned counsel appearing on behalf of

the respondent, has argued that quite clearly none of the

sub-clauses in Section 81 would apply. In any case, according to

him, the various sub-clauses in Section 81 only reflect the extent of

confidentiality that arises out of the earlier sections contained in

Part III dealing with Conciliation, and that, therefore, the moment

the case does not fit into any of the four pigeon holes of Section

81, the report can certainly be admitted into evidence and relied

upon. He also cited a Canadian Supreme Court judgment, which

we will deal with, in support of this proposition. 3

5) Sections 75 and 81 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,

1996 read thus:

“75. Confidentiality.— Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the conciliator and the parties shall keep confidential all matters relating to the conciliation proceedings. Confidentiality shall extend also to the settlement agreement, except where its disclosure is necessary for purposes of implementation and enforcement.

81. Admissibility of evidence in other proceedings.— The parties shall not rely on or introduce as evidence in arbitral or judicial proceedings, whether or not such proceedings relate to the dispute that is the subject of the conciliation proceedings,—

(a) views expressed or suggestions made by the other party in respect of a possible settlement of the dispute;

(b) admissions made by the other party in the course of the conciliation proceedings;

(c) proposals made by the conciliator;

(d) the fact that the other party had indicated his willingness to accept a proposal for settlement made by the conciliator.”

On a reading of Section 75, it is clear that the object of the section

is sub-served by the expression “relating to” which is an expression

of extremely wide import. (See: Renusagar Power Company

Limited v. General Electric Company, (1984) 4 SCC 679 at 704).

It is clear, therefore, that both the conciliator and the parties must

keep as confidential all matters relating to conciliation proceedings. 4

6) The litmus test for determining whether the matter relates to

conciliation proceedings was laid down by an earlier judgment of

this Court. In Ruby General Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Pearey Lal

Kumar and Another, [1952] S.C.R. 501, the question to be decided

was as to whether a dispute or difference arose out of a certain

insurance policy. This Court laid down that the test for determining

whether a dispute or difference arose out of the said policy is

whether recourse to the contract, by which the parties are bound,

is necessary for the purpose of determining the matter in dispute

between them. If it is found that such recourse is necessary, then

the matter would certainly fall within the policy. Following this

judgment, and applying it to the facts of this case, it is clear that

recourse needs to be had to conciliation proceedings as the

genesis of this demarcation report is only in conciliation

proceedings and not otherwise.

7) This being the case, it is of no matter that the present case

does not fall within the four pigeon holes contained in Section 81,

as otherwise, if there are insidious encroachments on

confidentiality, a free and fair settlement may never be arrived at,

thus stultifying the object sought to be achieved by Part III of the

1996 Act.

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8) Mr. Baruah cited before us a judgment of the Supreme Court

of Canada in Union Carbide Canada Inc. and Dow Chemical

Canada Inc. vs. Bombardier Inc., Bombardier Recreational

Products Inc. and Allianz Global Risks US Insurance Company

[2014] 1 SCR 800. He relied, in particular, on a sentence

contained in para 36 of the said judgment which reads as under:-

“Moreover, a litigant cannot object to evidence of a fact that is independent of and separate from a settlement offer.”

We agree with this decision. In that a litigant cannot possibly

object to evidence of a fact that is independent of or separate from

a settlement offer. In the facts of the present case, this case is

wholly distinguishable and would not apply for the simple reason

that the demarcation report has its genesis only in the conciliation

proceedings, as has been held by us above.

9) In this view of the matter, we allow the appeal and set aside

the impugned judgment dated 12.12.2014. However, it will be

open for the respondent to adduce, by way of evidence, any report

that he may obtain from authorities for the purpose of demarcating

property, which may then be introduced by way of evidence in

accordance with law.

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10) The appeal is disposed of accordingly.

…………………………J. (R.F. Nariman)

…………………………J. (Sanjay Kishan Kaul) New Delhi;

August 23, 2017