O R D E R

Aggrieved over the Award of the Sole Arbitrator dated 25.10.2014 rejecting the claim for recovery of liquidated damages and direction to refund the withheld amount of Rs.17,25,875.00 under clause 2 of the contract together with interest at the rate of 18% p.a., and rejection of the additional claims made during the arbitral proceedings viz., Claiming compensation of Rs.46,91,544/- for additional expenditure incurred in terms of construction materials, labourers, fuel etc., during the extended period of contract 499 days; Compensation of Rs.13,89,529.61 for additional expenditure incurred in terms of additional lead for all works in the 3rd and 4th wing due to non-availability of access point and Compensation of Rs.86,24,571/- for extra cost over run for the extended period of contract from

19.05.2010 to 20.09.2011 the Petitioner filed this petition.

2. Though several grounds have been raised during submissions, main ground raised by the Petitioner is that the Award is vitiated on the ground of Patent Illegality and non consideration of documents and no proper reason stated by the Arbitrator for rejecting the Additional Claims.

3. Brief facts leading to file this Original Petition is as follows:

3.(a) The Petitioner was awarded a contract for a value of Rs.3,45,17,496/-

for construction of Additional Students room (third floor) over Tapti & Bramaputra Hostels at IITM Madras. Tender submitted by the Petitioner was accepted by letter dated 08.12.2009. Thereafter, agreement was executed on 28.01.2010. One of the main condition in the Contract is that the work will be completed within a period of 4 months. However, work was not completed within that period. The Respondent extended the time provisionally six times finally upto 13.09.2011. The work was completed on 20.09.2011. The Petitioner applied for final extension of time on 12.03.2012. The superintending Engineer issued notice on 25.04.2012 to the Petitioner to show as to why compensation should not be levied. After considering the reply the Superintending Engineer levied a compensation for a sum of Rs.17,25,875.00 as per Clause 2 of the Agreement. The decision of the Superintending Engineer was appealed, thereafter the Arbitration was invoked.

3(b) The main contention of the Petitioner is that the work was not completed because of various practical hindrance not attributable to the Petitioner. The respondent granted extension of time for six times and each time the Respondent informed that the extension of time was “provisionally granted” and also mechanically repeated all the extension of time is “without prejudice to the right of the Institute to recover the liquidated damages” in accordance with the provisions of clauses of the Agreement. While doing so, the Respondent without any reference to Clause 5.2 of the Contract, arbitrarily overlooked the factors put forth by the claimant. The fundamental hindrance in this project was that (a) the work had to be completed without affecting the students already occupying the floors i.e., ground, 1st floor and 2nd floor (b) Only one access point was allowed for each building from by a temporary stair. (c) No labour shed was allowed inside the campus and (d) Night work should not be carried out. Shifting of the materials in the required height through the temporary stairs, non availability of work space at the third floor, abnormal increase in leads for dumping of the waste materials beyond 100 meters stipulated in the agreement have hampered the actual progress of works. Hence it is the contention that the additional time required to complete the total project was beyond the control of the contractor. The work was completed on 20.09.2011, the respondent did not grant provisional extension even after completion of the project for a long time. The Petitioner requested extension of time vide its letter dated 12.03.2012. However, the respondent has sent a reply seeking compensation.

3(c) Though the delay of 499 days was attributed to