Judgment:-

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the order passed by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant under Section 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the `Constitution). Prayer was to quash the Memo No.428 dated 10.1.2007 directing the appellant to deposit the amount of about Rs.1.81 crores which is 7% of the total amount claimed by the appellant before the Arbitral Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the `Tribunal).

3. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows:

The appellant is a contractor, who was allotted work of constructing Haryana Government office building in Sector 17, Chandigarh. On 4-3-1992 an agreement was entered into between the parties, which incorporated sub-clause (7) of clause 25-A providing for arbitration in case of any dispute. Some differences between the parties regarding payment in respect of allotted work had arisen which resulted in referring the dispute to the three members Tribunal. The appellant filed his claim before the Tribunal. The respondent-State filed its objection to the claim by principally submitting that the contrac