JUDGMENT :

PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The short question before us is whether the appellant is entitled to post award interest on the sum awarded by the Arbitrator. The Arbitrator denied payment of such interest under a misplaced impression that the contract between the parties prohibited it. The executing Court¹[Order in M.A No. 19 of 2001 dated 10.10.2002.] affirmed the finding of the Arbitrator and rejected the prayer. However, allowing the appeal, the District Court²[Order passed by the District Judge in Civil Appeal no.86 of 11.11.2002 dated 04.03.2003] held that the appellant will be entitled to post award interest. By the order impugned before us, the High Court³[Order dated 14.05.2019 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Civil Revision No. 2561 of 2003] allowed the revision and set aside the District Court order while holding that the contract between the parties did not permit grant of post award interest.

2.1 For the reasons to follow, while allowing the appeal we have held that as this is a case arising out of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996⁴[Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’], by operation of Section 31(7)(b), the sum dir