The court emphasized that the lack of reasons in an arbitral award makes it vulnerable and that the Arbitration Court does not have appellate authority to supplement reasons for an unreasoned award.

JUDGMENT :

SANJIB BANERJEE, J.

(Prayer: Appeal filed under Order XXXVI Rule 9 of O.S. Rules read with Clause 15 of Amended Letters Patent 1865 and Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, against the order dated 03.08.2020 passed in O.P.No.57 of 2015 on the file of this Court.)

1. The argument on behalf of the appellant is short and sweet: that the first principles of arbitration law do not permit an unreasoned order to be justified by supplementing reasons therefor upon looking into the evidence or records pertaining to the arbitral reference.

2. This is a classic example of what cannot be done by an Arbitration Court when in receipt of a petition for setting aside an arbitral award. The primary ground of challenge before the Arbitration Court was that the award was unreasoned. As if in agreement with such principal contention, some 30 pages have been expended in constructing an order that seeks to give reasons and legal crutches to a completely unreasoned award.

3. It is elementary that when parties to an agreement carry their disputes to a consensual forum in preference to the usual forum of a civil Court, the Court will be slow in entertaining a challenge that either party may come up with on being dissatisfied with the resultant award. The Court will hold the parties to their bargain and require them to abide by the decision of their consensual tribunal. This principle is subject to certain exceptions. The exceptions have been statutorily recognized in Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. It may only be said that, in essence, Section 34 of the Act provides for a supervisory jurisdiction to correct manifest errors and to ensure that there is no grave miscarriage of justice. However, by no stretch of imagination does Section 34 of the Act confer appellate authority on the Arbitration Court in seizin of a petition to set aside the award.

4. In a regular appeal, it is open to the Court to embark on a fact-finding exercise, to re-read and re-appraise the evidence, to interpret the documents afresh and to do all things de novo that the Court of original jurisdiction could have done. Such expansive authority is not available to an Arbitration Court while dealing with a petition for setting aside an award. The Court has to yield to the arbitrator’s assessment as to the quality and the quantity of the evidence, the arbitrator’s interpretation of the agreement between the parties, unless such interpretation is patently unreasonable or absurd to the meanest mind or is opposed to public policy. Even errors of law committed by arbitrators are not amenable to correction unless such errors lead to manifest miscarriage of justice.

5. It is now appropriate that the award be seen in its entirety and for whatever it may be worth. The award has been incorporated in the appeal papers and begins at page 110 with the cause-title to the arbitral reference and concludes half-way at page 120 of the papers. For the first 9 pages of the 11-page award, the Arbitrator refers to the nature of the contract, sets out the table indicating the heads of claim, records the preliminary objections made by the respondent in the reference, notes the parawise reply to the claim statement as furnished by the respondent Corporation, refers to the counter-claim of the respondent in the reference and its prayer, paraphrases the prayers made by the claimant and the response thereto of the respondent. In covering all such matters, it comes to three-quarters of the page down at page 118 of the appeal papers. Thereafter begins a section intituled as ‘Findings’ and the same reads as follows:

“Findings:

I have gone through the Statement of Claim of Claimant’s application filed by the Claimant and Reply/counter claim, rejoinder and sur-rejoinder filed by both the parties under Section 17 of Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996, I have also given full opportunity to both the parties to make their arguments during the last arbitration hearing he