MOHAN CONSTRUCTION CO Vs. DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IA No. 1668/1996 (U/S 30 and 33 of the Arbitration Act, 1940) The petitioner contractor was awarded the work of construction of 296 MIG Houses at Pitampura, Pocket J, New Delhi along with the internal development of 152 MIG Houses in pursuance to Agreement No. 3/DD-I/DDA/82-83. Disputes arose between the parties and in terms of clause 25 of the terms and conditions of the contract, the Engineer-Member, DDA appointed Shri M.S. Telang as the Sole Arbitrator who entered upon reference and made and published his Award on 28.02.1995. The respondent aggrieved by the same has filed the present objections.

(2.) A bare perusal of the objections shows that the respondent is seeking to dispute item-wise claims awarded by the Arbitrator. This is a pure question of appreciation of evidence and is not required to be gone into by this Court in view of the judgment of Division Bench of this Court in DDA v. Bhagat Constructon Co. Pvt. Ltd., 2004 (3) Arb.LR 481 and of the Apex Court in Food Corporation of India v. Joginderpal Mohinderpal and Anr., (1989) 2 SCC 347. It has been observed in M/s Sudarsan Trading Co. v. Govt of Kerala, AIR 1989 SC 890 that so long as the view taken by the Arbitrator is plausible, though perhaps not the only correct view, the award cannot be examined by the court. In such a situation, the High Court was held to have no jurisdiction to examine different items clause by clause as awarded by the Arbitrator and to hold that under the contract, these were not sustainable in the facts found by the Arbitrator. This is exactly what the respondent is seeking from this Court by the grounds of objections filed and the same is not permissible. The respondent seeks to contend in the grounds that the finding arrived at by the Arbitrator that the respondent was responsible for the delay in the contract and consequently a number of claims awarded on that basis was erroneous. This is once again a finding of fact arrived at by the Arbitrator on the basis of the material on record, which does not call for any scrutiny in the present proceedings.

(3.) The last aspect is the question of interest, which has been awarded by the Arbitrator, i.e., pre-suit, pendente lite @ 15% p.a. and @ 16.5% p.a. from the date of award till the date of decree or the date of realisation, whichever is earlier. Learned counsel for the petitioner himself confines the claim to simple interest @ 12% on the principal amount awarded in terms of the Award for pre-suit, pendente lite and for the period till the date of decree, which is as per the prevailing rates of interest and as has been awarded in a number of matters by this Court.