DELHI VIDYUT BOARD Vs. SUBHASH CHANDER AND CO.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 challenges the Award dated 31.8.1998 passed by the sole Arbitrator. The arbitration proceedings arose on account of a contract entered into between the parties whereby the respondent was to remove fly ash deposits from certain ash ponds in the petitioner's thermal power plant for being deposited at different sites. The disputes arose on account of various issues such as whether the contractor is entitled to charges for transporting the ash beyond 20 KM. approx., whether the contractor is entitled to charges incurred by him towards idle labour; plant and machinery, loss of profitability on account of closure of the contract and so on.

(2.) AT the outset, I may state that the counsel for the petitioner has confined his arguments with respect to the Claim Nos. 2, 5 and 6 dealt with in the Award. Claim No. 2 pertains to the claim for payment for additional distance of the disposal site. Claim No. 5 pertains to loss due to idle labour/staff/plant and machinery and Claim No. 6 is with regard to loss of profitability arising from the pre -mature closure of the contract by the petitioner.

(3.) MR . Gourav Banerjee, ASG, appearing on behalf of the petitioner has in support of his arguments with respect to the issue that there is no fixed site or even a fixed approximate distance for disposal of the fly ash has taken me through the various contractual conditions in the agreement and more particularly the terms and conditions in the S.C.C. At this stage, I may refer to clause Nos. 4 and 5 of the Special Conditions of Contract. Before I do that I may note that the special conditions of the contract specifically state that whenever there is a conflict between the general conditions of contract and the special conditions, the special conditions shall prevail. Therefore, it is clear that special conditions will prevail over general conditions. Also, it would be relevant for a decision of the subsequent issue that the terms and conditions as found in the final letter of the Award, which was acted upon by the respondent, would become the final contract document between the parties. Clauses 4 and 5 of the special conditions of contract are as under: