India, Dec. 21 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), seeking to refer its dispute with its contractor for the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro line, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), to arbitration, a year after settling the dispute by offering Rs.9 crore to the company as full and final settlement. The settlement agreement between MMRCL and HCC was a separate agreement which did not contain any arbitration clause, the court said.

MMRCL had appointed HCC as contractor for executing various works on Metro line 1 and an agreement to that effect was signed between them in August 2010. After execution of the works, a dispute arose between them over performance ban...