Max Healthcare moves Bombay High Court against interim arbitral order in dispute with CARE Hospitals

Max Healthcare has moved the Bombay High Court against an interim order passed by court-appointed arbitrator retired Justice SJ Kathawalla in its contractual dispute with Care Hospitals and TPG Inc..The July 19 order passed by the arbitrator refused to grant urgent interim relief to Max and also refused to grant status quo as regards third-party rights.Aggrieved by the same, Max approached the High Court for the second time on July 27 to appeal against the order. The plea is likely to be heard on September 1..Max Healthcare had earlier approached the High Court on May 3 this year to protect its rights under the term sheet signed with Care Hospitals and Touch Healthcare, Quality Healthcare and Evercare Group Management, to acquire the hospital chain. Quality Care is the company that operates Care Hospitals, while Touch Healthcare and Evercare are part of the US-headquartered fund TPG. Max’s filed a petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act to protect its contractual rights before commencement of the arbitration proceedings..Justice Milind Jadhav on May 3 directed the parties to adjudicate their issues before an arbitrator instead and appointed Justice Kathawalla as the sole arbitrator.The arbitrator was also directed to decide Max’s interim application under Section 17 of the Arbitration Act for urgent relief, within two weeks..Max’s urgency was that Care Group had already assigned third-party rights to another company. This, it claimed, was in violation of a binding term sheet signed by Max with Care Hospitals. It thus sought an order of status quo on third-party rights..Max Healthcare will be represented by Senior Advocate Janak Dwarkadas, briefed by a team from Nishith Desai Associates led by Partner Vyapak Desai.Care Hospitals will be represented by Senior Advocate Darius Khambata briefed by a team from Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas led by Partner Meghna Rajadhyaksha.