ORDER

1. The respondent entered into a contract for carrying out certain works which had to commence from 4-2-1975 and conclude on 15-3-1975. The actual date of completion was however, 31-10-1975. He was paid Rs 2,49,660 as per final bill. It appears that after a lapse of almost 5 years on 18-8-1979 he gave notice for appointment of an Arbitrator and followed it up by an application dated 3-9-1979 under Section 8 of the Arbitration Act, 1940 on the basis whereof the Arbitration Tribunal was appointed as an Arbitrator on 14-12-1979. However, later on the application of the respondent, the Arbitration Tribunal was divested of the arbitration proceedings and a retired Judge was appointed as the sole Arbitrator. Before the Arbitrator, certain documents were called for from the appellant. The Arbitrator ultimately gave his award and filed it in the Court of Sub-Judge, Bhubaneswar, but the same was challenged before him on the ground that the documents called for were in fact not produced and the Arbitrator proceeded to give his award without waiting for the production of those documents. The award was, therefore, based on no evidence according to the appellant and was, therefore, liable