JUDGMENT

Sanjib Banerjee, CJ. - These three appeals arise out of identical orders passed on three independent petitions under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 pertaining to the three packages forming parts of the same work for the construction of a hydro-electric power project in the State.

2. The primary prayer in the three petitions was as follows:

'Restrain the Respondent, its assign(s), its officers, employees or representatives from fraudulently invoking the Bank Guarantees as listed in para 26 of the present application and issued by the Applicant in favour of the Respondent.'

3. To begin on a lighter note, the prayer made may just as well have been allowed for the mere asking. By the use of the word 'fraudulently' therein, the respondent herein only prayed that the invocation should not be fraudulent but did not seek any injunction on the invocation otherwise. So much for careless drafting and the daily rubbish that the Indian Judge is subjected to.

4. There is no dispute that the relevant bank guarantees were unconditional in nature, in the sense that the bank unequivocally agreed to pay the amounts covered by the relevant bank guarantees on the first dema