An award can only be set aside where there is an error on its face and the error must be of law and not of fact.

( 1 ) THE appeal and the c. R. P. arise out of Arbitration proceedings. The State of Andhra pradesh and the concerned Executive engineer are the appellants. C. M. A. No. 1152 of 1986 is filed against the decree in 0. P. No. 312 of 1985 on the file of the second Additional Judge, City civil Court, Hyderabad making the award a rule of the Court under Section 14 of the Arbitration act. C. R. P. No. 2728 of 1986 is filed against the order in o. S. No. 915 of 1985 dismissing the petition to set aside the award under Section 30 of the arbitration Act.

( 2 ) THE brief facts are one sri Rayanam entered into a contract on 24-1-1981 with the state of Andhra Pradesh represented by the Superintending Engineer and others for formation of earth-dam in gorge portion from chainage 3360 to 3380 M of Raiwada reservoir Project near devarapalli Village, Chodavaram taluk, Visakhapatnam District. Some disputes arose between the parties. The matter was referred to arbitration as per the Clause in the agreement. The Contractor made as many as 11 claims claiming various amounts. The arbitrator passed a consolidated award granting a sum of Rs. 19. 39 lakhs towards claims 1 and 3 to 11. Claim No. 2 was withdrawn and the same was not taken into account by the Arbitrator.

( 3 ) THE Contractor filed O. S. No. 915 of 1985 to make the award a rule of the Court and the department filed 0. P. No. 312 of 1985 to set aside the award. The learned Second Additional Judge, city Civil Court. Hyderabad decreed the suit and dismissed the o. P. against which the above c. M. A. and C. R. P. are filed by. the department.

( 4 ) THE submission of the learned Counsel for the appellant-department is that the decree of the civil Court confirming the award discloses an error apparent on the face of the record and hence is liable to be set aside.

( 5 ) ON the other hand, it is contended for the respondent- contractor that the scope of the civil Court under the Arbitration act is very limited and since the arbitrator has not given any reasons it is not open to this Court to go behind the award and look for the reasons. It is further urged that there is no error apparent on the face of the record much less an error of law.

( 6 ) TO decide this controversy, it is necessary to refer to Section 30 of the Arbitration act which is as follows:-"30. Grounds for setting aside award: An award shall not "be set aside except on one or more of the following grounds namely; (a) that an arbitrator or umpire has misconducted himself or the proceedings; (b) that an award has been made after the issue of an order by the Court superseding the arbitration or after arbitration proceedings have become invalid under Section 35; (c) that an award has been improperly procured or is otherwise invalid. "the language of Section 30 is couched in negative terms and unless the grounds metnioned in sub-sections (a) (b) or (c) thereof, exists, no award can be set aside. Clause (a) refers to misconduct on the part of the arbitrator. Clause (b) deals with a case where an award is made after the arbitration proceedings are superseded or have become invalid under Section 35. The most important and relevant for our purpose is Clause (c) which says that the award can be set aside, if it is improperly procured or otherwise invalid. The words "otherwise invalid" occurring in clause (c) had been the subject matter of judicial scrutiny on several occasions and it was held that the award can be set aside only if there is an error of law apparent on the face of the record. The scope of jurisdiction of the civil Court under Section 30 is therefore limited. The law is well settled on this aspect.

( 7 ) IN Union of India Vs. Bungo Steel Furniture (1) A. I. R. 1967, Supreme Court, Page 1032 the Supreme Court held that the award can be set aside on the ground of error of law on the face of the award only when in the award or in a document incorporated in it, there is found some legal proposition which is the basi