COMMON ORDER

These Original Petitions are filed at the instance of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) which has suffered an award before the learned Arbitrator.

2.The brief facts relating to the above Original Petitions are as hereunder:

The petitioner was formed as a Special Purpose Vehicle with an equal 50% shareholding of the Central Government and State Government of Tamil Nadu. The petitioner invited tenders for design and construction of underground stations in the city of Chennai together with associated tunnels of Corridors 1 and 2 on a working basis. A Letter of Acceptance was issued by the petitioner to the respondent on 28.12.2010, followed by a Contract Agreement being executed on 31.01.2011, with a commencement date of 07.02.2011, for a total contract value of Rs.1566.81 and Rs.1031 crores. The execution of the work was to be completed within 50 months, on or before 07.04.2015. It is not in dispute that the contract was completed, however not within the time contemplated under the Contract Agreement.

3.According to the petitioner, the contract was a fixed price contract subject to changes in costs which were permissible only when there is change in legislation. The r