JUDGMENT :

1. The competent authority under Section 3-G of the National Highway Authority of India Act, 1988 determined the compensation amount liable to be paid to the claimants by award dated 27.08.2020. The Arbitral Tribunal was constituted under Section 3-G(5) of the National Highway Authority of India Act, 1988. The appellant before this Court as well as the respondent-claimant preferred objections against the said award before the Arbitrator. The Arbitral Tribunal while drawing its award neglected to consider the objections raised by the appellant and made the final determination solely on the footing of the objections tendered by the respondents-claimants.

2. Thus, aggrieved, the appellants took out proceedings under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996(hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') before the learned District Judge which came to be registered as Arbitration Case No. 17 of 2022 (National Highway Authority of India vs. Parimal Bajpai and Others).

3. In the aforesaid proceedings, the case of the appellants before the Court below was that the challenge to the compensation determined by the competent authority was specifically made by the NHAI before the