O.P.No.859 of 2016

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

Dated : 16.02.2021

Coram

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.SUNDAR

O.P.No.859 of 2016

Best Cast Constructions Pvt. Ltd.,

Rep. By Mr.N.Venugopal (President)

No.9, 6^th Street

T.N.Nagar, Palanipet

Arakkonam – 631 002

Vellore District

Tamilnadu State

.. Petitioner

vs.

1. The Union of India

Represented by the General Manager

Southern Railway

Head Quarters Office

Park Town

Chennai – 600 003

2. The Chief Engineer

Construction

Southern Railway, Egmore, Chennai – 600 008

Now @ Ernakulam, GCDA Towers

Eastern Entry Tower

1^st Floor, Karshaka Road

Ernakulam (South Railway Station)

Kochi – 682 016

Kerala State

3. The Deputy Chief Engineer

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O.P.No.859 of 2016

Construction, Southern Railway

First Floor, Railway Station Building

Cannanore (Kannur) – 670 001

Kannur District, Kerala State

... Respondents

Petition filed under Section 34 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act,

1996 to set aside the original award of the Hon'ble Sole Arbitrator dated

05.03.2016 in the Arbitration Proceedings between the Petitioner and

Respondents 1 to 3 to the extent it disallowed the Claim of the Petitioner

and thus render justice.

For Petitioners

: Mr.K.Aparna Devi

For Respondents

: Mr.P.T.Ramkumar

Standing Counsel

for Southern Railways

ORDER

Captioned 'Original Petition' ('OP' for the sake of brevity) is an

application under Section 34 of 'The Arbitration and Conciliation Act,

1996 (Act No.26 of 1996)', which shall hereinafter be referred to as 'A

and C Act' for the sake of brevity, assailing an 'arbitral award dated

05.03.2016' (hereinafter 'impugned award' for the sake of brevity), made

by a Sole Arbitrator, who constituted the 'Arbitral Tribunal' ('AT' for the

sake of brevity) which made the impugned award.

2. The entire lis pertains to a contract awarded by Southern

Railway to 'Best Cast Constructions Pvt. Ltd.,' (hereinafter 'contractor'

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O.P.No.859 of 2016

for the sake of convenience). Suffice to say that this contract was inter

alia for doubling of track between Shornur and Mangalore – Cannanore

– Mangalore Section : Construction of Major Bridges with Pile

foundation and Earthwork for approaches, 1) 14 spans of 12.19 M, PSC,

Girder opposite to existing Bridge No.1162 at km 804/8-13 and 2) 1 span

of 15.00M PSC Girder to existing Bridge No.11653 at km 804/17-805/1.

3. Southern Railway floated a tender on 15.07.1998, a formal

agreement was entered into on 28.06.1999 (this formal agreement shall

hereinafter be referred to as 'said contract' for convenience) and 24

months from the date of Letter of Acceptance (22.05.1999) is the time

fixed for completion of said work. In other words, work had to be

completed by 21.05.2001. This Court is informed that contractor had

done another work for Southern Railway, which was treated as a targeted

one, on completing the targeted work satisfactorily, said work was

awarded to contractor and this is the reason for the gap between the date

of acceptance of tender and the issue of Letter of Acceptance. However,

it is not necessary to dilate further on facts owing to the thoroughly

professional approach taken by the two learned counsel before me in the

light of the limited supervisory jurisdiction of a Section 34 Court.

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O.P.No.859 of 2016

4. Ms.K.Aparna Devi, learned counsel for contractor (claimant

before AT and petitioner in captioned OP) and Mr.P.T.Ramkumar,

learned Standing Counsel for Southern Railway (Respondents before AT

and Respondents in captioned OP also) were before me. Respondents

before AT, who are also respondents in captioned OP, shall be referred

to as 'Southern Railway' for convenience.

5. Regarding lis between contractor and Southern Railway, suffice

to say