LALL CONSTRUCTIONS CO Vs. GENERAL MANAGER NORHTERN RAILWAY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A learned Single Judge by the impugned order, rejected the objections filed under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act against the award made by the Arbitral Tribunal dated 17.03.2016.

(2.) The necessary facts for deciding this case are that the appellant had entered into a supply contract with the Northern Railways. The appellant had invoked Clause 64 of the agreement arguing that it contained an arbitration clause. The invocation was apparently questioned; this Court, however, proceeded to appoint an Arbitrator under Section 11 (6) of the Act. The order of the court was carried in appeal by special leave to the Supreme Court which on 04.08.2014 rejected the appeal. However, it reserved the respondent railways' contention pertaining to the purport and effect of the supplementary agreement. In arbitral proceedings, the railways contended that the disputes raised by the appellant were not arbitrable and relied upon a supplementary agreement dated 14.02.2010. The relevant part of the said supplementary agreement, which sought to terminate the previous dispute regarding amounts, reads as under:

(3.) The Arbitral Tribunal first considered whether at all the disputes urged on behalf of the appellant could be gone into and whether the supplementary agreement had the effect of effacing the arbitral agreement itself. The Tribunal extracted the relevant part of the supplementary agreement and thereafter discussed its purport as follows: