WISHWA MITTAR BAJAJ & SONS Vs. BPTP LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Wishwa Mittar Bajaj and Sons (hereafter 'the appellant') has filed the present appeal under Sec. 37(1)(c) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act (hereafter 'the A&C Act') impugning an order dtd. 21/12/2017 (hereafter 'the impugned order') passed by the learned Single Judge, whereby the appellant's application under Sec. 34 of the A&C Act, seeking to set aside an arbitral award dtd. 14/7/2017 (hereafter 'the impugned award'), was rejected.

(2.) On 18/4/2007, the respondent issued a Letter of Intent and awarded the work of construction of Towers (G, H, J and K) for Group Housing Project at Sector-82, Faridabad (hereafter 'the Project') to the appellant. Subsequently, on 19/4/2007, the respondent issued a Work Order in favour of the appellant for completion of the Project. In terms of the Work Order, the effective date of commencement of works was 21/4/2007 and the scheduled date of completion of works was a period of twenty-one months from the date of possession of the site. The contract value of the Project was approximately Rs.16,48,14,449.00.

(3.) The execution of the works was prolonged beyond the agreed period of twenty-one months. The contract between the parties was foreclosed on 11/5/2010. On the same day, the appellant also signed an Indemnity cum Undertaking. The said undertaking stipulated that the appellant would be given an ad-hoc payment of Rs.15,00,000.00 and the said amount would be disbursed within a period of twenty days from the date of signing of the final bill. The relevant terms of the Indemnity cum Undertaking executed between the parties, is set out below: -