Arrested: Man who duped litigants by posing as arbitrator from Feb 2019
They said that since 2019, a man who identified himself as an arbitrator, held proceedings, and handed out arbitral awards in favour of one party in a number of land disputes in Ahmedabad Police has been nabbed.
Morris Samuel Christian was arrested for cheating and other IPC offenses.
In Ahmedabad, after the City Civil Court’s Registrar Hardik Desai lodged a complaint, Christian was called to Karanj Police Station, and an FIR was lodged against him.
In his complaint to Surathkal police, Desai alleged that Christian posed as an arbitrator in a land dispute and passed an order against a collector.
It also came to knowledge of Honble judge and government pleader that he himself (Christian) gets himself appointed as a arbitrator, a fabricated arbitration award was passed without any jurisdiction and execution petition for such award was filed by him (Christian) stated Desai.
The complaint further alleges that in that case there was no contract of arbitration between the collector, and State government, and the applicant.
“His appointment as an arbitrator was never ordered by any court.” The applicant was invited by him himself and made an arbitrator,” it added.
According to the FIR, Christian allegedly committed such fraudulent activity with the motive to take possession of a government owned land in unfair manner.
Ahmedabad police claim he fraudulently worked as an arbitrator in the city for five and a half years.
Christian and his subsequent arrest are reported to have been ordered by the City Civil Court and Sessions Court judge JL Chovatia while passing the order in a civil suit filed by one Babuji Thakore, claiming his right to government land in Paldi area of Gujarat, Deccan Herald reports.
Thakore produced a certificate under the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 advanced by him before the proceedings in 2019 on which he claimed that he was the rightful owner of the said government land.
Morris, who delivered another arbitral award in June this year, was cautioned by the Gujarat High Court in a plea filed by Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited, seeking to quash the arbitral award passed without authorisation.
Justice Sangeeta Vishen allowed the plea and held :
“Let respondent no. 1 (Morris Christian) not befool the innocent people by inviting or informing them about the arbitration proceedings sitting and requiring the parties to attend the proceedings without any agreement between the parties and appointing him himself as an arbitrator, and give award under no authority whatsoever.” On conclusion, I wish to put it on record that the respondent no 1 shall not indulge further into the act of pretending to be an arbitrator, and conduct arbitration processes at whim and fancy.’
