Twenty First Century Mining Private Limited v. Nominated Authority Ministry of Coal Government of India & Anr.

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O.M.P.(I)(COMM.) 41/2026 & I.As. 2925-2926/2026, High Court of Delhi, decided 03.02.2026 by Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, J. Parties: Twenty First Century Mining Private Limited v. Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal, Government of India & Anr. Subject: Section 9, Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 — injunction restraining Respondent No. 1 from invoking/appropriating/encashing Performance Bank Guarantee No. 0896524BG0000547 (amended 17.05.2025), an unconditional bank guarantee per Respondents' counsel, in furtherance of the Scrutiny Committee's recommendation (meetings dated 6-7 November 2025) forwarded by letter dated 03.12.2025. Contract: Coal Block Development and Production Agreement (CBDPA) dated 17.08.2022 — Clause 10 (Efficiency Parameters; appropriation of Performance Security per Clause 6; termination per Clause 26), Clause 27 (Governing Law and Dispute Resolution), especially Clause 27.6 (right to appropriate Performance Security 'until a final determination'), and Clause 27.3 (arbitration under Section 27 of the Act). Holdings: 'final determination' under Clause 27.6 means the learned Arbitral Tribunal's decision, not the Nominated Authority's; the Nominated Authority's decision on the Petitioner's representation dated 17.12.2025 was awaited; the guarantee cannot be invoked till then; one-week notice of the decision to the Petitioner; petition disposed. Counsel: Kirtiman Singh, Sr. Adv. with Sanjeev K. Kapoor, Saman Ahsan, Swastika Chakravarti, Mimansha Durgapal (Petitioner); Abhishek Gupta, CGSC with Kumar Kartikeya, Dhananjay Singh, Chankya Kene (R-1); Santosh Kumar Rout (R-2). Keywords: bank guarantee invocation, Section 9 A&C Act interim relief, performance security appropriation, dispute resolution clause, coal block CBDPA, nominated authority, scrutiny committee.