- (1.) This is an application filed by the Hindustan Steelworks Construction Company Limited for filing the award of the Umpire appointed by this court, Shri Justice Jaganmohan Reddy, retired judge of this court and for passing a decree in terms of the said award. It appears that there was an agreement between Shri Rajasekhar Rao, the contractor and the Hindustan Steelworks Construction Limited, petitioner, in respect of certain works. Differences and disputes arose and there were proceedings before the arbitrator named in the agreement and there were certain proceedings, the details of which is not necessary to refer. As the arbitratorscould not agree, there were differences. This court by an order dated 16/06/1983 directed that arbitrators appointed by each of the parties be appointed arbitrators to adjudicate upon the dispute between the parties. It was stipulated therein that in the said order of this court dated 16/06/1983, it would be no longer open to the party to question the validity of the appointment of the arbitrators. In the event of any disagreement between the two arbitrators, Shri Jaganmohan Reddy, a former judge of this court was directed to act as the Umpire. Further consequential directions were also given. Thereafter the parties appeared before the arbitrators and referred the matter to the Umpire. The Umpire after consideration has made the award dated 15/07/1985 which has been filed in this court and the petitioner seeks a decree in terms of the award. The respondent-contractor, Shri Rajasekhar Rao objects to the award being made a rule of the court. He states in his objections that the Umpire had made a speaking award, therefore according to his counsel the validity or otherwise of the said award was justifiable (sic justifiable) in a court of law.
(2.) He, however, firstly contends that the award was made beyond time. He further contends that the Umpire had no jurisdiction to proceed with the arbitration on or about 18/12/1984 as the period of two months from the date of his entering upon the references viz. , 20/10/1984 had expired on 18/12/1984. According to the said objections, the Umpire became founts officio. It was contended that the power to extend the period of passing the award was vested in the court alone under Section 28 of the Arbitration Act and it was not permissible for the parties to extend the time. We are unable to accept this position. Mr. Markandeya drew our attention to certain observations of this court in the case of State of Punjab v. Hardyal. He relied on the observations of the court at page 656 and emphasised that law precludes parties from extending time after the matter had been referred to the arbitrator; it would be a contradiction in terms to hold that the same result could be brought about by the conduct of the parties. These observations, in our opinion, are out of context. The policy of law is that the arbitration proceedings should not be unduly prolonged. The arbitrator therefore has to give the award within the time prescribed or such extended time as the court concerned may in its discretion extend and the court alone has been given the power to extend time for giving the award. The court has got the power to extend time even after the award has been given or after the expiry of the period prescribed for the award. But the court has to exercise its discretion in a judicialmanner. In that case this court found that the High court was justified in taking the view that it did. This power, however, could be exercised even by the appellate court. In view of the policy of law that the arbitration proceedings should not be unduly prolonged and in view of the fact that the parties have been taking willing part in the proceedings before the arbitrator without a demur and had all along been willing to extend time, this will be a fit case, in our opinion, for the extension of time. We accordingly extend the time for giving the. ward and the award will be deemed to have been given in time. In this case, it appears that under S. 28 and in the light of S. 3 of the First Schedule the parties are allowed to extend the time. In this connection reference may be made to H. K. Wattal v. V. N. Pandya, where this court reiterated that sub-section (2) of S. 28 indicated one exception to the above rule that the arbitrator could not enlarge the time, and that was when the parties agreed to such an enlargement. It is clear this court reiterated that the arbitrator gets the jurisdiction to enlarge the time for making the award only in a case where after entering on the arbitration the parties to the arbitration agreement consent to such enlargement of time. In this case precisely it so happened. Furthermore the parties have proceeded before the Umpire on that basis which is just and proper and furthermore the time should be extended as was done in the case of State of Punjab v. Hardyal. In the aforesaid view of the matter we are unable to accept the submission on behalf of Shri Markandeya that the award of the Umpire was beyond time.
(3.) It was next contended that the award contained error of law on the face of the award and there were inconsistent findings. It has to be borne in mind that it was only in a speaking award that the court could look into the reasoning of the award. In the case of Jivarajbhai Ujamshi Sheth v. Chintamanrao Balaji, this court observed that an award might be set aside by the court on the ground of error on the face of the award, but an award was not invalid merely because by a process of inference and argument it might be demonstrated that the arbitrator had committed some mistake in arriving at his conclusion. The law on this point is well settled. The Judicial Committee in Champsey Bhara and Co. v. Jivraj Balloo Spinning and Weaving Co. Ltd. clarified that An error of law on the fact of the award means, that one could find in the award or a document actually incorporated thereto, as for instance a note appended by the arbitrator stating the reasons 97 for his judgment, 'some legal proposition which is the basis of the award and which one could then say was erroneous. It did not mean that if in a narrative a reference was made to a contention of one party, that opened the door to seeing first what that contention was, and then going to the contract on which the parties' rights depended to see if that contention was sound. It has been further reiterated by this court in the aforesaid decision relying on Champsey Bhara and Company case, that in dealing with-an application to set aside an award the court had not to consider whether the view of the arbitrator on the evidence was justified. The arbitrator's adjudication was generally considered binding between the parties, for he was the tribunal selected by the parties and the power of the court to set aside the award was restricted to cases set out in S. 30 of the Arbitration Act. It is not open to the court to speculate, where no reasons are given by the arbitrator, as to what impelled the arbitrator to arrive at his conclusion. It is not open to the court to attempt to probe the mental process by which the arbitrator had reached his conclusion where it is not disclosed by the terms of his award. In this case this is not a speaking award. The learned Umpire has not spoken his mind indicating why he has done what he has done '. he has narrated only how he came to make the award.;