Vibhu Bakhru, J.

1. The petitioner (hereafter ‘the AAI’) has filed the present petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter ‘the Act’) impugning an arbitral award dated 29.07.2017 (hereafter ‘the impugned award’) rendered by an Arbitral Tribunal comprising of a sole arbitrator.

2. By the impugned award, the Arbitral Tribunal has awarded a sum of Rs.47,92,321/- in favour of the respondent and further directed that the bank guarantees amounting to Rs.2,35,92,000/- be released. The counter claim preferred by the AAI has been rejected.

3. The principal controversy involved in the present case relates to rejection of the counter claim preferred by the AAI. Mr. K.K. Rai, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the AAI contended that the impugned award was intrinsically inconsistent inasmuch as the Arbitral Tribunal had accepted the report of Chief Technical Examiner’s Organisation (hereafter ‘CTEO’) of the Central Vigilance Commission and had permitted AAI to adjust the amount of Rs.30 lakhs retained by the AAI from the amounts due to the r