IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Arbitral Tribunal is not bound to award interest – It has discretion to award interest or not to award.
(2) Discretion with regard to grant of interest would be available to Arbitral Tribunal only when there is no agreement to the contrary between parties.

JUDGMENT

B.R. Gavai, J.

Leave granted.

2. The short question involved in the present appeal is, as to whether the "sum" awarded under clause (a) of sub-section (7) of Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996(hereinafter referred to as the "1996 Act") would include the interest pendente lite or not?

3. The undisputed facts in the present case are as under:

4. On being declared as the successful bidder, a Concession Agreement dated 25th August, 2008 (hereinafter referred to as "the Concession Agreement"), was entered into between the appellant-Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as "DAMEPL") and the respondent-Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "DMRC"). As per the Concession Agreement, the respondent-DMRC was to carry out the civil works (excluding at the Depot) and the balance works (including the Depot civil works and the Project systems works) were to be executed by the appellant-DAMEPL. As per Article 29 of the Concession Agreement, in the event of termination, it was the respondent-DMRC, which was liable to make Termination Payment (as defined in the Concession Agreement).

5. During the course of operations of the project, a dispute arose between the appellant-DAMEPL and the respondent-DMRC. The appellant-DAMEPL terminated the Concession Agreement by Termination Notice dated 8th October, 2012. The respondent-DMRC referred the dispute to Arbitration under Article 36.2 of the Concession Agreement on 23rd October, 2012. An Arbitral Award came to be passed on 11th May, 2017. On 12th May, 2017, the appellant-DAMEPL paid a stamp duty of Rs. 4,72,20,000/- on the Award. Certain interim orders were also passed in the interlocutory proceedings by the Delhi High Court. Since the respondent-DMRC was aggrieved by the Award, it filed a Petition under Section 34 of the 1996 Act in Delhi High Court, being OMP (COMM) No. 307 of 2017, challenging the Arbitral Award dated 11th May, 2017. Vide the judgment and order dated 6th March, 2018, the learned Single Judge of the Delhi High Court upheld the Arbitral Award and rejected the respondent-DMRC's petition under Section 34 of the 1996 Act. The said judgment and order dated 6th March, 2018 came to be challenged by the respondent-DMRC before the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court by way of appeal being FAO(OS)(COMM) No. 58 of 2018. The said appeal was partly allowed by the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court vide the judgment and order dated 15th January, 2019. Being aggrieved thereby, the appellant-DAMEPL preferred Civil Appeal No. 5627 of 2021 [arising out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 4115 of 2019] before this Court. The said appeal came to be allowed by this Court by judgment and order dated 9th September, 2021, vide which the judgment and order dated 15th January, 2019, passed by the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court was set aside.

6. The appellant-DAMEPL thereafter immediately filed an Execution Petition being OMP (ENF.) (COMM) No. 145 of 2021 on 12th September, 2021, before the Delhi High Court for enforcement of the Arbitral Award dated 11th May, 2017 passed by the Arbitral Tribunal. Various orders came to be passed by the learned Single Judge of the Delhi High Court in the said proceedings from time to time. Vide the impugned judgment and order dated 10th March, 2022, the learned Single Judge of the Delhi High Court issued certain directions with regard to the payment to be made by the respondent-DMRC towards the satisfaction of the Award. Vide the impugned judgment and order, the application(s) for impleadment filed by the Canara Bank and the Union Bank of India came to be rejected. In the said proceedings, a contention was raised on behalf of the appellant-DAMEPL that the sum, as specified under clause (a) of sub-section (7) of Section 31 of the 1996 Act, would include interest for a period from the date on which the cause of action arose to the date on which the award was made. The said contention was