S.ABDUL NAZEER,J. - (1.) By an order dated 10.01.2013, this Court had referred the matter for adjudication to Hon'ble Justice S.B Sinha, retired Judge of this Court. Learned Arbitrator was requested to conclude the arbitration proceedings expeditiously. It was further observed that the award shall be filed before this Court. Learned Arbitrator passed an award on 16.10.2015 and a copy of the award was sent to this Court. Admittedly, the appellants have challenged the said award by filing a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, before the Civil Court. The respondents have filed an affidavit dated 16.06.2016 requesting this Court to pronounce the judgment in terms of the award.
(2.) Learned counsel for the respondents submits that since the Arbitrator was directed to file his award in this Court, the application for making the award a rule of the Court must be filed in this Court and that this Court alone has the jurisdiction to pronounce the judgment in terms of the award. In this connection, he has relied on a three-Judge Bench judgment of this Court in Mcdermott International INC. v. Burn Standard Co. Ltd. and Others reported in 2005 (10) SCC 353, and a two-Judge Bench judgment in State of Rajasthan v. Nav Bharat Construction Company (2), 2010(1) R.C.R.(Civil) 834 : 2010 (2) SCC 182.
(3.) On the other hand, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant submits that right to appeal is a valuable right and unless there exists cogent reasons, a litigant should not be deprived of the same. If this Court decides the objections to the award, the parties will lose their right of appeal. It is further submitted that while referring the matter to arbitration, this Court had not retained control of the proceedings of the Arbitrator. In this connection he has relied on the decisions of this Court in Bharat Coking Coal Limited v. Annapurna Construction (2008) 6 SCC 732 and State of West Bengal and Ors. v. Associated Contractors 2014(4) R.C.R.(Civil) 694 : 2014(6) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 180 : (2015) 1 SCC 32.;