(1.) The dispute is between a developer, the Petitioner herein, and the original land owners, the Respondents herein. The Petitioner was the respondent before the Arbitral Tribunal. An Arbitral Award dtd. 4/7/2019(the Award) is challenged under Sec. 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996(the Arbitration Act).
(2.) The Petitioner and the Respondents entered into a Deed of Agreement dtd. 11/3/2010(the Agreement). In terms thereof, the Petitioner agreed to develop the property owned by the Respondents of anextent of about 11.24 acres at Thirumudivakkam village, Sriperumbudur Taluk, Kanchipuram District. In the developed property, the developer was to take a 70% share and the land owners a 30% share. The Agreement provides for the payment of a sum of Rs.3.00 crore by the developer to the land owners as an adjustable advance, and the receipt of this sum by the land owners is admitted and acknowledged in clause 4. In order to fulfill the developer's obligations under the Agreement, the land owners were required to execute powers of attorney in favour of the developer. Accordingly, powers of attorney dtd. 20/4/2011 and 25/4/2011, respectively, were executed by the Respondents. The Respondents were also required to obtain and hand over to the developer the patta for the property. The said patta was handed over on or about 20/5/2011. Under the Agreement, the Petitioner/developer was required to apply for and obtain the approval of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority(CMDA) and the local government as regards building approval. The Agreement specified that the development should be completed within a period of five years from the date of obtaining approval from the appropriate authorities. The admitted position is that CMDA issued the planning permit on 27/6/2013. The development was to be undertaken in phases and the first phase was completed some timein the year 2015. The partial completion certificate in respect thereof was obtained on 19/8/2015. As against the total built-up area of 8,11,177 sq.ft., the developed area constitutes about 30%, i.e. 2,40,000 sq.ft.
(3.) Sometime in the year 2017, the Respondents refused to provide life certificates in respect of the powers of attorney. According to the Petitioner, this constitutes breach of the Agreement. On the other hand, according to the Respondents, the Petitioner committed breach by not proceeding with and completing the development as per the Agreement. In effect, out of 634 flats, which were required to be built in terms of the Agreement, about 266 flats were built. In the above facts and circumstances, a dispute arose between the parties, and such dispute was referred to arbitration. Before the Arbitral Tribunal, the Respondents made four claims: for a sum of Rs.85,22,50,000.00 towards the value of 2,43,500 sq.ft. (30% of the total built up area as per the Agreement) or to hand over possession of 2,43,500 sq.ft of built up area in the scheduled mentioned property; a sum of Rs.4,00,00,000.00 towards the value of 634 car parks or to hand over possession of 634 car parks immediately; a sum of Rs.6,81,80,000.00 towards rent for the last 28 months calculated at Rs.24,35,000.00 per month; a sum ofRs. 16,06,05,000/- towards mental agony and hardship; for costs of the proceedings.