UNIQUE BUILDERS Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Award, dtd. 30/9/2019 is under challenge under Sec. 34 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (in short 'Act').

(2.) I have heard Mrs. K. Aparna Devi, learned Counsel for the Petitioner and Mr. P.T. Ramkumar, learned Standing Counsel for the Railways. I have also gone through the records, including the impugned Award of the learned Arbitrator, besides the decisions on which reliance has been placed by the learned Counsel on the other side.

(3.) The learned Counsel for the Petitioner, Mrs. K. Aparna Devi, would make a preliminary argument with regard to delay in passing of the Award and she would make elaborate submissions in this regard. According to the learned Counsel for the Petitioner, the delay in passing the Award renders the Award liable to be set aside, without even going into the merits. Even otherwise, she would submit that the Arbitrator, in a haste to pronounce the Award, has mingled issues together without any substance or basis whatsoever and therefore, the Award passed is liable to be set aside, even if not on the ground of delay. The learned Counsel for the Petitioner would refer to the various dates, which are relevant to determine her contention with regard to delay in passing of the Award.