STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. NAV BHARAT BUILDERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These special leave petitions are filed against the judgment and order dated 19th September, 1989 of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court passed in First Appeal No. 1185 of 1988.

(2.) After hearing the learned counsel on both sides and after going through the relevant material on record we are of the view that these petitions have to be dismissed in limine. Since we have heard the submissions of the parties at some length, we indicate briefly our reasons to this order.

(3.) Admittedly, the Award is a nonspeaking one and there was no stipulation in the reference to the arbitrator that he should give reasons for his Award. The petitioner State Government made two grievances before us against the Award. The first was with reference to the compensation that was awarded to the respondent-contractor for the stoppage of work. In this connection, it was the contention of the Government that since clause(6) of the contract between the parties had provided for a specific rate of Rs. 10,000/- per day as compensation for stoppage of work, the arbitrator had travelled beyond the said term by granting damages at the rate of Rs. 28,590/ - for 146 days from January 25, 1980 to June 21, 1980. It was also pointed out to us that in fact the State Government had given a package of concessions by a memorandum of Nov. 26, 1980 to mitigate the hardship of the contractor on account of the stoppage of work, in addition to what was agreed to in the original contract.