JUDGMENT :

REKHA PALLI, J.

1. The present petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 filed by Steel Authority of India Limited, who was the respondent before the learned Arbitrator, assails the arbitral award dated 15.10.2019 where under the claims of the respondent have been allowed with actual costs of arbitration and interest @ 14% per annum.

2. The brief facts as emerge from the record are that the petitioner, which is engaged in the business of inter alia manufacturing steel, awarded a contract for setting up a Coupled Pickling Line and Tandem Cold Mill at Bokaro Steel Plant to a consortium of M/s Siemens VAI Metals Technologies Pvt. Ltd., M/s Siemens VAI Metal Technologies GmbH & Co, Austria and M/s McNally Bharat Engineering Co. Ltd. The parties, therefore, entered into a contract bearing No. TC/M/AGT-963 on 03.03.2008 which specified the project commencement date as 03.03.2008 and the date of completion as 03.09.2010. As per the terms of the contract entered into between the parties, it was envisaged that M/s Siemens VAI Metals Technologies Pvt