BHAGAT CONSTRUCTION CO PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondent gave a contract to the petitioner for construction of 400 housesin SFS at Rajouri Garden, New Delhi. White executing the aforesaid contract certaindisputes arose between the parties. The said disputes in terms of clause 25 of theagreement were referred to the sole arbitration of Shri S. Nagarajan, AdditionalDirector General (Retd.), for adjudication and decision. The Arbitrator entered intothe reference and upon hearing the parties made and published his award by orderdated 8.5.1992. The a foresaid award was placed before this court for making thesame a Rule of the Court, as against which objections were filed by Delhi DevelopmentAuthority, the respondent herein.

(2.) I have heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties in respect of theaforesaid objections and also on the issue about making the award a Rule of theCourt. I have also perused the records placed before me including the recordsmaintained by the Arbitrator as also his award and on appreciation thereof I proposeto decide the matter-claimed.CLAIM NO. 1:

(3.) Claim No. 1 was a claim for an amount of Rs. 2 lac being the amount due to thepetitioners towards final bill including labour escalation. During the proceedingsbefore the Arbitrator the petitioners reduced their claim to an amount of Rs. 1,61,587.00-as per Ex. C-39. The petitioners have admitted that there is a clerical mistake in theaward so far the present claim is concerned. On perusal of the records I find that thetotal amount as awarded by the arbitrator in respect of the aforesaid claim shouldhave been Rs. 1,13,552.68 and not Rs. 1,59,495.66. The aforesaid mistake is anadmitted mistake appearing on the face of the record and therefore, could becorrected and the award could be modified to the aforesaid extent in terms of theprovisions of Section 15(b) of the Arbitration Act. The amount of Rs. 24,261.00 wasrecovered on account of secured advance and therefore, the said amount is to bededucted from the final bill as submitted by the petitioners which was for Rs. 1,59,495.66and therefore, the said amount is to be deducted from the modified amount. Totalamount payable on this account is admittedly Rs. 1,13,568.60 and therefore, theaward is modified to the aforesaid extent holding that the petitioners would beentitled to receive an amount of Rs. 1,13,566.38 as against claim No. 1 instead ofRs. 1,59,495.66 which has been awarded by the Arbitrator.CLAIM NO. 2: