1. Appellant in these appeals is the Kerala State Electricity Board (for short 'the Board'). Two awards were passed by an Arbitrator in favour of the Board and against a contractor who is the first respondent in these appeals; As per one award, a sum of Rs. 74,49,116 was found due from the contractor to the Board and as per the other award, a sum of Rs. 28,64,965.27 was found due from him to the Board. The contractor was directed to pay the said sum with interest at the rates specified in the awards. But both the awards were set aside by the Sub Court, Trivandrum, on petitions filed by the contractor in that behalf. The Sub Judge went further and removed the Arbitrator and also superseded the order of reference to arbitration. Hence these appeals.

2. The backdrop of the two awards can be narrated in the following lines: "Kakkad Hydro-electric Project" is one of the prized projects of the Board. A major part of the project involves construction of a huge underground tunnel through the mountainous terrain. The tunnel is intended to utilize the tail waters of Moozhiar Power Station (which is a wing of "Sabarigiri Project") for augmenting power generation. For practical conveni