- (1.) In these proceedings under Sections 30 and 33 of the Arbitration Act, 1940, the petitioner challenges every bit of the award that it is in favour of the contractor.
(2.) The umpire has awarded Rs. 5 lakh by way of damages to the contractor ; Rs. 50,000/- on account of costs in respect of the Court proceedings ; Rs. 7 lakh on account of costs in the reference and interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum from March 15,1988 until payment.
(3.) In end-August, 1983 the contractor was engaged for designing, manufacturing, supplying, erecting, testing and commissioning a Process Water Reclamation Plant at the Rourkella Steel Plant of the petitioner. The work was to be completed by December, 1984. The arbitrator has found that there was delay on the part of the employer or the engineers engaged by it that resulted in an unsuitable site being allotted. An alternative site was thereafter provided and on the petitioner's instructions found in a writing of March 22, 1984, the work was suspended. The work remained suspended till or about the first week of December, 1984, and after relocation of the plant units, construction activities were taken up in the middle of December, 1984.;