JUDGMENT

Manoj Kumar Ohri, J. The present petition has been preferred under Section 34 of the A&C Act^{1 [The Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996]} assailing the Arbitral Award dated 23.12.2022 (hereafter, `the impugned Award') delivered by the Arbitral Tribunal comprising of a Sole Arbitrator.

FACTUAL MATRIX

2. For the ease of reference, petitioner herein shall be referred to as "Contractor" and the respondent/claimant as "Sub-contractor".

3. The Contractor was awarded BTG Civil and Structural Work in 1350 MW thermal power project at Sinner, Nasik, Maharashtra by M/s India Bulls Infrastructure Company Ltd. (Principal Employer)^{2 [Principal Employer, i.e., India Bull Infrastructure Company Ltd.]}, vide a letter of award dated 05.05.2011. The contract value of the works awarded was Rs.201.51 crores.

4. Part of the works-pertaining to steel fabrication and erection-was sub-contracted by the Contractor to the Sub-contractor under an MOU dated 02.07.2011 executed by them. One of the conditions of the MOU was that the terms and conditions of the contract between the PE and the Contractor would be applicable to the Sub-contractor in respect of portion of works sub-contracted to it.

5. Pur