BHARAT BROADBAND NETWORK LTD. Vs. PARAMOUNT COMMUNICATIONS LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this petition, under Sec. 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ['the Act'], the petitioner assails an arbitral award dtd. 20/5/2024, by which disputes have been adjudicated under two Purchase Orders ['POs'] dtd. 25/3/2014, placed by the petitioner upon the respondent. The learned arbitrator has partially allowed the respondent's claims and awarded a sum of Rs.1,70,76,639.00, out of the total claims of Rs.12,77,08,909.00, alongwith interest thereupon at the rate of 9% per annum, and costs of Rs.5,00,000.00.

(2.) The petitioner issued a Notice Inviting Tender dtd. 3/4/2013 ['NIT'], for supply of optical fibre cable of the stated specifications, and accessories. The tender was divided into six packages [Package A to Package F], each dealing with a different part of the country. The disputes in the present case concern supply under Package A [North-West India] and Package F [East and North-East India]. The respondent submitted its bid for these two packages, and Advance Purchase Orders ['APOs'] were issued on 28/1/2014, in the sum of Rs.119,73,05,950.51 for Package A and Rs.187,29,38,962.66 for Package F. The APOs were amended subsequently, which were accepted by the respondent, and POs were ultimately issued on 25/3/2014, in the sums of Rs.30,25,28,952.07 and Rs.71,79,72,748.61 respectively.

(3.) The only claim of the respondent, which has been allowed by the impugned award, relates to excise duty payable on the goods in question. There is a difference in classification of the goods by the petitioner, and the classification adopted by the Excise Department, upon which the respondent has raised its invoices.