S. Muralidhar, J.

1. The challenge in this petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘Act’) is to an Award dated 29th September 2012 whereby the Petitioner has been asked to pay the Respondents a sum of Rs. 4,16,13,361 together with interest @ 12% per annum from the date of the Award.

2. Petitioner No. 1 is Enjayes Spices & Chemical Oil Ltd. (‘ESCOIL’) and Petitioner No. 2 Mr. N.S. John. Respondent No. 1 is the National Research Development Corporation (‘NRDC’).

The licence agreement

3. NRDC acquired from the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (‘CSIR’) the absolute ownership of the know-how for manufacture of ‘Spices Oleo Resins’ developed by the Central Food Technology Research Institute (‘CFTRI’), Mysore, Karnataka. It is stated that Petitioner No. 2 Mr. N.S. John applied to the NRDC on 31st January 1979 for grant of a licence to use the aforementioned technology and right to use, exploit and practice know-how and process of manufacture of the articles developed by CFTRI and to sell commercially, the articles so manufactured. After negotiations between NRDC and Mr. John, the NRDC by an agreement of licence dated 17th March 1980 agre