STATE BANK OF INDIA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in this writ application challenges the legality of the award passed by the Arbitrator under Section 7(B) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1985. - -

(2.) THE case of the petitioner is that for communication of messages between the Sunabeda and Damanjodi, as no other convenient facilities were available, a request was made to the Chief General Manager, Telecom Orissa in April 1984 to provide a teleprinter circuit between the aforesaid two branches. Consequent upon such request, a point to point T.P. Circuit was allotted for direct working between the aforesaid two branches of the bank for 24 hours a day. In the sanction letter dated 27.5.1 986, the guarantee was for a period of six years and the said letter also contained certain other terms and conditions. The grievance of the petitioner is that the T.P. Circuit installed by the opposite parties did not function properly and several complaints were made and the facilities could not be utilized because of improper functioning of the T.P. Circuit. Since corrective measures were not taken, a request was made in February 1989 to disconnect the Teleprinter. A further request was also made to refund the unutilized rent from the date of disconnection. Even though disconnection took place, the unutilized rent was not refunded and accordingly dispute was raised by the petitioner. The said dispute was referred to the Arbitrator in terms of Section 7(B) of the Act. The Arbitrator in the impugned award, in Annexure -5, held that an amount of Rs.1,70,475/ - as demanded by the present opposite parties for the entire period of six years is payable by the petitioner.

(3.) SHRI Das, the learned counsel appearing for the opposite parties, on the other hand, contended that there was no STD or other facility available to the petitioner in the locality and on the request of the petitioner, the T.P. Circuit was made available for both the branches and the Department had to incur huge expenditure for the purpose. Only after STD facility was made available, the bank stopped T.P. Circuit facilities and requested for disconnection.