MONSHER ENTERPRISES Vs. INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IA No.10431/1991 (u/Sections 30 and 33 of the Arbitration Act, 1940) A contract was awarded to the petitioner for installation and commissioning of fire fighting equipments at the Delhi International Airport. Clause 25 of the Standard Conditions of Contract provided for arbitration as the method for resolution of disputes. The disputes having arisen on account of claims by the petitioner, the matter was referred by the designated person for the sole arbitration of Mr.A.Sankaran, who made and published his award dated 28.11.1990 making a total award in the sum of Rs 10,59,182.15/- along with interest. The respondent aggrieved by the same has filed the present objections.

(2.) Learned counsel for the respondent does not dispute that while considering objections under Sections 30 and 33 of the Arbitration Act, 1940 ('the said Act' for short), this Court cannot sit as a court of appeal. It is not the function of this Court to interfere with an award merely on the basis that this Court would come to a different conclusion on the material available before the arbitrator. It is only in the eventuality of the award being totally perverse that such an interference is called for. In fact the Apex Court has observed that in the absence of the award being absurd, reasonableness is not a matter to be considered by the Court as appraisement of evidence by the arbitrator is not ordinarily a matter for the Court. In this behalf reference may be made to the Judgment of the Apex Court in Food Corporation of India v. Joginderpal Mohinderpal and Anr., (1989) 2 SCC 347.

(3.) Insofar as interpretation of a contract is concerned, again the same is a matter for an arbitrator, on which the court does not substitute its own decision as observed by the Apex Court in M/s Sudarsan Trading Co. v. Govt of Kerala, AIR 1989 SC 890. So long as the view taken by the arbitrator is a plausible view, though perhaps not the only correct view, the award cannot be examined by the Court.