- (1.) In order to overcome the shortage of drinking water in the City of Chennai, the Government of Tamil Nadu formulated a scheme known as "Veeranam Project" to provide drinking water to the city. Tenders were invited for the said scheme and ultimately, the tender submitted by the respondent M/s. Satyanarayana Brothers Pvt. Ltd. was accepted. The work undertaken could not be completed within the stipulated time and the respondent sought extension to complete the work. Though the time was extended, the respondent could not complete the same on account of disputes which were ultimately referred to the arbitration of two arbitrators appointed by the parties. The arbitrators appointed Hon'ble Mr. Justice K.S. Palaniswamy, a retired Judge of the Madras High Court, as their umpire. On account of disagreement between the arbitrators the matter was referred to the umpire who held that the respondent was entitled to Rs. 40,02,591/- from the appellant and after allowing the deduction for the same the respondent was liable to pay to the appellant a sum of Rs. 2,69,93,674/- with interest @9% per annum from the date of the Award. Out of the said Award, only a sum of Rs. 5,000/- was awarded as damages for breach of contract.
(2.) The Award was filed by the umpire in the Madras High Court and was numbered as O.P. No. 428/79. While the appellant filed Application No. 560/80 in the said O.P. No. 428/79 praying for a decree to be passed in terms of the Award, the respondent being aggrieved by the Award, filed O.P. No. 122/80 for setting aside the Award. The learned single Judge allowed the prayer for setting aside the Award and consequently, the other application filed by the appellant for a decree to be passed in terms of the Award was dismissed. C.S. No. 176/78, which had been filed by the appellant, was also dismissed.
(3.) Thereafter, the appellants preferred appeals, being O.S.A. Nos. 248 of 1989 and 59 of 1993, against the order of the Single Judge. The said appeals were allowed by the Division Bench of the High Court by its order dated 18/10/2001 and a decree was passed in terms of the Award dated 10th September, 1979, passed by the umpire. Aggrieved by the order dated 18/10/2001, by which OSA 248/89 and 59/93 had been initially allowed by the Division Bench, the respondent filed SLP(C) Nos. 2096-2097 of 2002. The said special leave petitions were re-numbered as C.A. Nos. 9136-9137 of 2003, and were disposed of by this Court on 18/11/2003. The matter was remitted to the Division Bench of the High Court and on remand, the Division Bench dismissed the said appeals, holding that foreign exchange was to be obtained by the joint efforts of the appellant and the respondent and that the Government was not extending time reasonably but in a piece meal manner. Accordingly, the High Court held that the respondent had not committed any breach of the contract. Aggrieved by the said order dated 24th March, 2004, the appellant preferred these appeals (C.A. Nos. 2880-2881/05), which were dismissed by this Court on 7th February, 2007. By consent of parties, the Hon'ble Mr. Justice S. Mohan, a retired Judge of this Court was appointed as Sole Arbitrator to decide the disputes between the parties. The learned Arbitrator submitted his Award on 26th October, 2007, holding that the respondent/claimant would be entitled to a sum of Rs. 15,84,933.76p. Thereafter, the parties were given the opportunity of filing their respective objections to the said Award and ultimately the matter has come up for the acceptance of the Award.;