US McDonald’s get SC backing against ex-Indian partner

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed by Vikram Bakshi, an estranged partner of McDonald's India Pvt Ltd, against a Delhi high court order allowing the US-based 

fast-food major to pursue arbitration.

The Delhi High Court, on July 21, had held that the dispute between McDonald's and Bakshi needed to be resolved through arbitration before the London Court of International Arbitration. A bench of justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre, while rejecting the appeal, said it was upon the arbitrator to  examine whether the claims  of McDonald's were tenable or not.

The High Court had set aside the decision of a single judge bench of December 22, 2014 restraining arbitration proceedings between the two as ordered by the Company Law Board (CLB). 

McDonald's had terminated the contract of its franchise for North India to the Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited, which was incorporated pursuant to the joint venture between Bakshi and the US-based fast food major.

Earlier, allowing the appeal of McDonald's by examining the issue, the division bench had said, "there is now a mandate to refer the parties to arbitration unless the court finds that prima facie no valid arbitration agreement exists. This is clearly not the case here."