FAO (OS) No.121/2014 Page 1 of 15

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

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FAO(OS) 121/2014

NUSSLI SWITZERLAND LTD

..... Appellant

Represented by:

Mr.K.N.Bhatt, Sr.Advocate instructed

by Mr.Prashant Kumar, Mr.Amit

Singh, Mr.Rajan Singh and

Mr.Anantha Narayana, Advocates

versus

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

COMMONWEALTH GAMES, 2010

..... Respondent

Represented by:

Mr.Rajeeve Mehra, Sr.Advocate

instructed by Mr.Neeraj Sharma,

Ms.Anjali Agrawala, Ms.Archana

Lakhotia, Ms.Pragya Nalwa,

Ms.Marisha Shukla and Mr.Anand

Raja, Advocates

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRADEEP NANDRAJOG

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MUKTA GUPTA

PRADEEP NANDRAJOG, J.

1.

Nussli Switzerland Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Nussli) and the

Organizing Committee Common Wealth Games, 2010 (hereinafter referred

to as the Organizing Committee) had entered into a contract on June 02,

2010 which contained an arbitration clause.

2.

Being a term of the contract, Nussli got issued a bank guarantee being

issued in favour of the Organizing Committee by HSBC Bank in sum of

`12,78,99,935/- (Rupees Twelve Crores Seventy Eight Lacs Ninety Nine

Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty Five only).

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FAO (OS) No.121/2014 Page 2 of 15

3.

Nussli had a claim of `71,69,20,040/- (Rupees Seventy One Crores

Sixty Nine Lacs Twenty Thousand and Forty only). The Organizing

Committee had a counter claim of `47,75,24,051/- (Rupees Forty Seven

Crores Seventy Five Lacs Twenty Four Thousand and Fifty One only)

allegedly being over payments made, `3,58,291/- (Rupees Three Lacs Fifty

Eight Thousand Two Hundred and Ninety One only) towards custom duty,

`47,75,240/- (Rupees Forty Seven Crores Seventy Five Thousand Two

Hundred and Forty only) being a cess levied by the Labour Commissioner,

`31,30,200/- (Rupees Thirty One Lacs Thirty Thousand and Two Hundred

only) towards penalty levied under the Delhi Value Added Tax and

`1,71,03,781/- (Rupees One Crore Seventy One Lacs Three Thousand Seven

Hundred and Eighty One only) towards compensation for damages suffered

by venue owners.

4.

The Arbitral Tribunal comprising three Hon’ble retired Judges of the

Supreme Court : (i) Justice (Retd.) Kuldeep Singh, (ii) Justice (Retd.)

B.P.Singh, and (iii) Justice (Retd.) R.B.Ravindran published an award on

December 14, 2003 holding that Nussli was liable to pay `2,18,79,025/-

(Rupees Two Crores Eighteen Lacs Seventy Nine Thousand and Twenty

Five only) to the Organizing Committee and the Organizing Committee was

liable to pay `46,15,06,072/- (Rupees Forty Six Crores Fifteen Lacs Six

Thousand and Seventy Two only) to Nussli, thus the net amount was

payable by the Organizing Committee to Nussli and it was `43,96,27,047/-

(Rupees Forty Three Crores Ninety Six Lacs Twenty Seven Thousand and

Forty Seven only). The sum awarded was with interest @ 6% per annum

from the date of commencement of the arbitration proceedings, which was

May 18, 2011, till date of payment. The bank guarantee in sum of

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FAO (OS) No.121/2014 Page 3 of 15

`12,78,99,935/- (Rupees Twelve Crores Seventy Eight Lacs Ninety Nine

Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty Five only) issued by HSBC Bank was

directed to be returned by the Organizing Committee to Nussli.

5.

Published on December 14, 2013, the objections to the award could be

filed, as per the provisions of Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation

Act, 1996, within three months of knowledge of the award being published,

which obviously was the date when notice was received by the parties of the

award being published.

6.

The bank guarantee being valid, as per the extended per