Pradeep Nandrajog, J.

1. Nussli Switzerland Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Nussli) and the Organizing Committee Common Wealth Games, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as the Organizing Committee) had entered into a contract on June 02, 2010 which contained an arbitration clause.

2. Being a term of the contract, Nussli got issued a bank guarantee being issued in favour of the Organizing Committee by HSBC Bank in sum of Rs.12,78,99,935/-(Rupees Twelve Crores Seventy Eight Lacs Ninety Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty Five only).

3. Nussli had a claim of Rs.71,69,20,040/- (Rupees Seventy One Crores Sixty Nine Lacs Twenty Thousand and Forty only). The Organizing Committee had a counter claim of Rs.47,75,24,051/-(Rupees Forty Seven Crores Seventy Five Lacs Twenty Four Thousand and Fifty One only) allegedly being over payments made, Rs.3,58,291/- (Rupees Three Lacs Fifty Eight Thousand Two Hundred and Ninety One only) towards custom duty, Rs.47,75,240/- (Rupees Forty Seven Crores Seventy Five Thousand Two Hundred and Forty only) being a cess levied by the Labour Commissioner, Rs.31,30,200/- (Rupees Thirty One Lacs Thirty Thousand and Two Hundred only) towards penalty levied under the Delhi Value Added Tax and Rs.1,71,03,781/- (Rupees One Crore Seventy One Lacs Three Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty One only) towards compensation for damages suffered by venue owners.

4. The Arbitral Tribunal comprising three Hon’ble retired Judges of the Supreme Court: (i) Justice (Retd.) Kuldeep Singh, (ii) Justice (Retd.) B.P.Singh, and (iii) Justice (Retd.) R.B. Ravindran published an award on December 14, 2003 holding that Nussli was liable to pay Rs.2,18,79,025/- (Rupees Two Crores Eighteen Lacs Seventy Nine Thousand and Twenty Five only) to the Organizing Committee and the Organizing Committee was liable to pay Rs.46,15,06,072/- (Rupees Forty Six Crores Fifteen Lacs Six Thousand and Seventy Two only) to Nussli, thus the net amount was payable by the Organizing Committee to Nussli and it was Rs.43,96,27,047/- (Rupees Forty Three Crores Ninety Six Lacs Twenty Seven Thousand and Forty Seven only). The sum awarded was with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of commencement of the arbitration proceedings, which was May 18, 2011, till date of payment. The bank guarantee in sum of Rs.12,78,99,935/- (Rupees Twelve Crores Seventy Eight Lacs Ninety Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty Five only) issued by HSBC Bank was directed to be returned by the Organizing Committee to Nussli.

5. Published on December 14, 2013, the objections to the award could be filed, as per the provisions of Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, within three months of knowledge of the award being published, which obviously was the date when notice was received by the parties of the award being published.

6. The bank guarantee being valid, as per the extended period of its validity, pursuant to the orders passed by the Arbitral Tribunal till December 31, 2013, the Organizing Committee, having three months’ time to file objections to the award was faced with the problem of the bank guarantee lapsing on December 31, 2013. The award pronounced on December 14, 2013 had discharged the bank guarantee and had required the guarantee bond to be returned by the Organizing Committee to Nussli.

7. Organizing Committee filed a petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 which was registered as OMP No.1300/2013 in which it prayed that Nussli should be directed to extend validity of the bank guarantee till conclusion of proceedings which the Organizing Committee would initiate under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 concluded.

8. Nussli opposed the petition. The debate between the parties was two fold. Firstly, post award, can the loosing party which has to recover nothing from the victorious party seek any interim measure from the Court pending determination of objections by it to the award; and secondly whether on