Arbitration Act, 1940 — Ss. 2(a), 8 and 34 — Arbitration clause: Clause 30 of the Agreement entered into between the Government of Maharashtra and the appellant, empowering Superintending Engineer to immediately resolve any controversy relating to specifications, designs, drawings, quality of workmanship or material used, etc. and providing that his decision shall be binding on contractor, is not an arbitration clause. Power conferred upon Superintending Engineer is in the nature of departmental dispute resolution mechanism meant for expeditious sorting out of problems that arise during execution of work. Further, nothing can be inferred from Cl. 30 that parties had conferred role of arbitrator upon Superintending Engineer. Power conferred upon Superintending Engineer to take decision on matters enumerated in Cl. 30 did not involve adjudication of any dispute or lis between Government and contractor. Hence, said clause is not an arbitration clause. [Vishnu v. State of Maharashtra, (2014) 1 SCC 516 (Civil Appeals No. 3680 of 2005 with No. 3681 of 2005, decided on October 4, 2013)
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 05:20:30 +0000