R.S.Mongia, C.J.

1. Heard Mr. P.C. Markanda, learned counsel for the applicants and Mr. H. Sarma, learned counsel appearing for the respondent.

2. This order of mine will dispose of Arbitration Petitions Nos. 17/2001, 18/2001 and 19/2001. In Arbitration Petition No. 17/2001, SPM Engineers Ltd. is the applicant, whereas International Construction Ltd., is the applicant in Arbitration Petition No. 18/2001 and Zoom International Services Ltd. is the petitioner in Arbitration Petition No. 19/2001. In all these cases, Guwahati Municipal Corporation (in short, the GMC) is the respondent.

3. In all these cases, agreements were entered into between the parties for carrying out the works regarding the water supply scheme. Both the contracts in Arbitration Petition No. 17/2001 and Arbitration Petition No. 19/2001 contained the following clauses, which are numbered as Clause 26 and Clause 30, respectively. The same are reproduced as under :

"Decision of the Commissioner to be final. - Clause 26. Except where otherwise specified in the contract the decision of the Commissioner of the Corporation for the time being shall be final conclusive and binding on all parties to the contract upon al