ENGINEERING PROJECTS (INDIA) LTD. Vs. M/S STEEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present petition under Sec. 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter 'the Act') seeking to enforce the Award dated 17.02.2011 rendered by the arbitrator appointed under the Permanent Machinery of Arbitration (hereafter 'PMA'). The PMA was constituted pursuant to the executive order (OM) dated 22.01.2004, which required the Central Public Sector Undertakings to resolve their, inter se, disputes by arbitration under the PMA.

(2.) The said OM expressly provided that the "PMA shall not entertain the disputes referred to it without the proper Arbitration Clause". The arbitration clause annexed with the OM expressly provided that the Act would be inapplicable to arbitration conducted under the PMA. The said clause reads as under:-

(3.) The question as to the enforceability of an award rendered under the PMA and the applicability of the provisions of the Act were considered by a Division Bench of this court in M/s IRCON International Ltd. Vs. M/s National Building Construction Corporation Limited : EFA (OS) No. 22/2006 decided on 28.11.2008. In the said case, the Division Bench of this court held as under:-