Holding

The Supreme Court held that the award was not otherwise invalid as there was no proof of jurisdictional excess, and the High Court’s order setting it aside was reversed.

Summary

Mis Ispat Engineering & Foundry Works (appellant) and Mis Steel Authority of India Ltd (respondent) referred their disputes to two arbitrators, whose disagreement led to an umpire being appointed. The umpire issued a non‑speaking award directing the respondent to pay Rs 2,44,000 to the appellant, which was made a rule of court by the trial court. The Patna High Court set aside the award under Section 30(c) of the Arbitration Act, 1940, deeming it "otherwise invalid". On appeal, the Supreme Court held that an arbitrator’s or umpire’s award is ordinarily final and conclusive unless the parties’ agreement expressly provides otherwise, and that there was no evidence the umpire had exceeded his jurisdiction. Consequently, the High Court’s interference was erroneous and the award was restored. The appeal was allowed and the order of the Sub‑Divisional Judge was reinstated.

Issues considered

The scope of judicial power under Section 30 of the Arbitration Act, 1940 to set aside a non‑speaking award.
Whether the umpire exceeded his jurisdiction under the arbitration agreement.
Whether the High Court was justified in declaring the award "otherwise invalid" under Section 30(c).

Legislation cited

Arbitration Act, 1940s. 30, s. 33

Subjects

ArbitrationNon‑speaking awardUmpire jurisdictionSection 30 Arbitration Act 1940Court interferenceFinality of arbitral awardSupreme Court

Judgment

A MIS ISPAT ENGINEERING AND FOUNDRY
WORKS, B.S. CITY, BOKARO r
v.
MIS STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA LTD. B.S. CITY, BOKARO

JULY 25, 2001
B
[G.B. PATTANAIK AND UMESH C. BANERJEE, JJ.]

Arbitration:
,-
c Arbitration Act, 1940-Sections 30 and 33-Non-speaking award by
Umpire-Award set aside by High Court as the Umpire has exceeded his
jurisdiction-Jnte1fere11ce with the award-Validity of-Held, on facts, invalid
as there is no evidence that the Umpire has exceeded his jurisdiction.

Appellant and respondent referred certain disputes to two artibtrators
D for arbitration. Due to disagreement between the arbitrators, the disputes
were referred to an Umpire. The Umpire gave a non-speaking award and
directed the respondent to pay Rs. 2,44,000 to the appellant. The award was
made a rule of Court by Trial Court. The High Court, in appeal, set aside
the award being invalid under Section 30(c) of the Act.
E
The appellant contended that the High Court, in an appeal has no
jurisdiction to interfere with and .set aside the award except for the grounds
stated under Section 30 of the Act.

The respondents contended that the award should be set aside on the
F ground that the Umpire had exceeded his jurisdiction in terms of the
agreement for arbitration.

Allowing the appeal, the Court

HELD: The award of the Arbitrator is ordinarily final and conclusive
G unless a contra intention is disclosed in the agreement itself. The Arbitrator
or Umpire, as the case may be, has no authority or jurisdiction to abdicate
. the terms of the contract of what the parties desired under the contract and
not beyond these. There is no evidence on record that the Umpire has ~

overstepped his jurisdiction or has travelled beyond the agreement and the

H
Court ought not to have entertained the objection and set aside the award as
1190
.
,(

!SPAT ENGIN. AND FOUND. WORKS'" STEEL A UTHO. OF INDIA LTD. [BANERJEE, J.] 1191

passed by the chosen forum of the parties. The High Court thus was in A
manifest error in entertaining the appeal and setting aside the award. The
--(
order passed by the High Court cannot be sustained and the law being well
settled on the score should not have been misread and misapplied by the High
Court. (1193-C; 1198-F; H; 1199-A-B]

State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors. v. R.V. Rayanim & Ors., (1990] l SCC B
433; V.G. George v. Indian Rare Earths ltd. & Anr., (1999] 3 SCC 762 and
Associated Engineering Co. v. Government of Andhra Pradesh & Anr. (1991]
4 sec 93, distinguished.

Arosan Enterprises Ltd. v. Union of India, (1999] 9 SCC 449; Champsey
Bhara & Co. v. Jivraj Ba/loo Spg. ~ Wvg. Co. Ltd., AIR (1923) PC 66;
c
(1923r_AC 480; Union of India v. Bungo Steel Furniture (P.) Ltd., AIR (1967)
SC 1032; (1967] 1 SCR 324; N. Chellappan v. Secy., Kera/a SEB & Anr.,
(1975] 1 SCC 289; Mis Sudarsan Trading Co. v. Government of Kera/a &
Anr., (1989] 2 SCC 38; State of Rajasthan v. Puri Construction Co. ltd. &
Anr., (1994] 6 SCC 485; Olympus Supestructures (P) Ltd. v. Meena Vijay D
Khetan & Ors., (1999] 5 SCC 651; Union of India v. A.l. Ralliaram, (1964]
3 SCR 164 and Jivraj Bhai U.S. & Ors. v. Chintaman Rao Balaji & Ors.,
(1964) 5 SCR 480, referred to.
/"
'CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 4503 of
2001. E
From the Judgment and Order dated 29.6.2000 of the Patna High Court
in Original Order No. 85/95.

Shashi B. Upadhyay for Ms. Kumud Lata Das, Advocates for the
Appellant. F
Prabhijit Jauhar, C.L. Valia and S.S. Jauhar for the Respondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

BANERJEE, J. Leave granted. G
The appeal pertains to the issue of interference of Court under Section
30 and 33 of the repealed Arbitration Act, 1940. Undisputably, in the contextual
> facts, the award in question is a non-speaking award of a former Judge of the '·'I
High Court at Patna who acted as an Umpire on appointment by the Court.
The award was made a rule of court by a judgment dated 29 .4.1995 rejecting H
1192 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 3 S.C.R.

A the petition under Sections 30 and 33 of the Act of 1940. The High Court in
appeal however set aside the award recording therein that· the award is
otherwise invalid in terms of clause (a) of Section 30 of the Act of 1940 and ~
hence the petition for special leave to appeal to this Court.

Section 30 of the Act of 1940 was rather restrictive in its ~peration and
B the use of the expression "shall" in the· main body of the Section made it
mandatory to the Court that the award of an Arbitrator shall not be set aside
excepting for the reasons as mentioned therein namely :

(a) Arbitrator or Umpire has misconducted himself;
C (b) The award has been made or passed after the supersession of
the Arbitration or the proceedings becoming invalid;
'
(c) Award has been i1,11properly procured or otherwise invalid.

These three specific provisions thus can only be taken recourse to in the
matter of setting aside of award and the law is so well settled on this score,
D that we also do not feel it expedient to dilate on the issue excepting recording
that since the parties chose their own arbitrators to adjudicate the ~sputes
between them, the parties cannot object to such an adjudication or decision
either upon the law or on the facts except however as envisaged in terms of ;J.
Section 30 of the Act of 1940, since repealed and as noticed above.
E
Needless to record that there exists a long catena of cases through
which the law seems to be rather well settled that the re-appraisal of evidence
by the Court is not permissible. This Court in one of its latest decisions
(Arosan Ente1prises ltd. v. Union of India and Anr., (1999] 9 SCC 449 upon
consideration of decision in Champsey Bhara & Co. v. Jivraj Balloo Spg. &
F Wvg Co. Ltd., AIR (1923) PC 66, 1923 AC 480); Union ofIndia v. Bungo Steel
furniture (P) ltd., AIR (1967) SC 1032, (1967] l SCR 324; N. Chellappan v.
Secy. Kera/a SEB and Anr., [1975] l SCC 289; Ms. Sudarsan Trading Co. v.
Govenrzment of Kera/a and Anr., [1989] 2 SCC 38 and State of Rajasthan v.
Puri Construction Co.'ltd. and Anr., [1994] 6 SCC 485 as also in Olympus .·
G Superstructures (P) ltd. v. Meena Vijay Khetan & Ors., [1999] 5 SCC 651 has
stated that re-appraisal of evidence by the Court is not permissible and as a
matter of fact, exercise of power to re-appraise the evidence is unknown to
a proceeding under Section 30 of the Arbitration Act. This Court in Arosan
Enterprises (supra) categorically stated that in the event of there being no
reason in the award, question of interference of the Court would not .arise at
H all. In the event however, there are reasons, interference would still be not
.(

!SPAT ENGIN AND FOUND. WORKS i·. Sl EEL AUTHO.OF INDIA LTD. [BANERJEE.J.) 1193
available unless of 1.-ourse, there exist a total perversity in the award or the A
judgment is based on a wrong proposition of law. This Court went on to
-; record that in the event however, two views are possible on question of law, ·
the court would not be justified in interfering with the award of the Arbitrator
if the view taken recourse to is a possible view. The observations of Lord
Dunedin in Champsey Bhara (supra) stands accepted and adopted by this
Court in Bungo Steel Furniture (supra) to the effect that the Court had no B
jurisdiction to investigate into the merits of the case or to examine the
documentary and oral evidence in the record for the purposes of finding out
whether or not the Arbitrator has committed an error of law. The Court as a
matter of fact, cannot substitute its own evaluation and come to the conclusion
that the Arbitrator had acted contrary to the bargain between the parties. c
Be it noted that the award of a Arbitrator is ordinarily final and conclusive
unless a contra intention is disclosed in the agreement itself. This Court. in
Ralliaram Union ofIndia v. A.l. Ralliaram, [1964) 3 SCR 164 stated that right
or wrong the decision of the Arbitrator is binding excepting in the case of
error of law on the face of it or in the event the award itself or in a document D
actually incorporated in it, there is found some legal proposition which stands
out to be the basis of the award and which is erroneous. Ralliaram's decision
~ expressly records that the civil courts cannot exercise apparent power over
the decision of an arbitrator, wrong or right irrespective (excepting however
)
the situation noticed above).
E
lnJivraj Bhai U.S. and others v. Chintaman Rao Balaji & Ors., [1964)
5 SCR 480 it has also been laid down that it is not open to court to speculate,
where no reasons are given by the Arbitrator as to what impelled the Arbitrator
to arrive at his conclusion and it is not open to the court to attempt to assess
the mental process by which the Arbitrator has reached his co~clusion where F
it is not disclosed by the terms of the award. Law thus seems to be well-
settled on the score of exercise of jurisdiction of law courts as regards
interference with an award of Arbitrator or Umpire as the case may be.

Turning attention on to the factual matrix of the matter in issue, the
records depict that by reason of certain disputes, the appellant herein invoked
G
~
the arbitration clause and appointed an Arbitrator together with a request
calling upon the respondent herein to appoint its Arbitrator. The two
" Arbitrators entered into the reference and disagreed as a result of which the
same was referred to the umpire but the umpire gave an ex-parte award to the
tune of Rs. 2, 76,000. The defendant, respondent herein challenged the award H
1194 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 3.S.C.R.

A before the Civil Court which was set aside being ex parte and the matter was
remitted back to the Umpire who, however, resigned because of his ill health
and subsequently, on the request of the parties, the Civil Court by an order t-
dated 7.8.1992 in Misc Case No. 5of1991 appointed an Umpire in place and
stead of the earlier Umpire. The record further depicts that the Umpire on
B 25.4.1994 did pass the award which inter alia records the following:

. "I, therefore, do hereby award and determine that the respondents
shall pay to the claimants a sum of Rs. 2,44,000 (Rs. two lakh forty
four thousand only)".

C Subsequently, the factual score depicts that steps were taken before the
Civil Court for the award to be made to be a rule of court and the learned
Subordinate Judge, 1st at chas, Bokaro by an order dated 29.4.95 made the
award a rule of court in the following terms.

"that the objection petition dated 3.6.94 is hereby rejected and the
Award is hereby made a rule of the court on contest with cost. Further
D
it is also ordered that the plaintiff/claimant is also entitled for three
categories of interest i.e. for pre-reference period starting from 6.9.85
to 23.9.87, pendente lite interest starting from 24.9.87 to 29.4.95 and.
future till actual payment is made against the principal sum of Rs
2,44,000 at the rate of prevailing in the Nationalised Bank from time
E to time."

On appeal however, the High Court set aside the award being an
'otherwise invalid' award in terms of Section 30(e) of the Act of 1940. In
paragraph 11 of the judgment impugned before this Court, the High Court
stated as below:
F
"On a thoughtful consideration of the matter, I reacp the conclusion
that it was not possible for the umpire in the given situation to award
any amount at all to the plaintiff. On the other hand, the defendant
was undoubtedly entitled to a sum of Rs. 71,400 by way of risk
purchase differential, because the plaintiff inspite of repeated extensions
G had filed to deliver the goods compelling the defendant to purchase
the materials at a higher price from elsewhere. Learned counsel for the
appellant is, therefore, right in his submission that the impugned
award amounts to putting a premium on dishonesty, and rewards the
plaintiff who. is responsible for repeated breaches of the contract for
H malafide reasons. I am, therefore, unable to uphold the award, and is
(

ISPATENGIN. AND FOUND. WORKS 1·. STEEL AUTHO.OF INDIA LTD. [BANERJEE.J.] 1195
fit to be set a.::ide, being an " ... otherwise invalid" award in terms of A
_, Section 30(a) of the Act."

By reason of the above this Special Leave Petition has been filed
" wherein notices have been issued and the appeal is disposed of upon leave
being granted as above.
B
Mr. Upadhyay, learned counsel appearing in support of the Appeal
rather strongly contended that the High Court in an appeal from the order of
the 1st Subordinate Judge. Bokaro in making the award, the rule of court
ought not to have interfered with the same, neither High Court had any
authority of jurisdiction to deal with the matter as it has been so done. It is
on this score that appellant herein placed strong reliance on the decision of
c
this Court Arosan 's case (supra). The respondent on the other hand with
however equal vehemence and zest contended upon reliance on the judgment
of this Court in State of Andhra Pradesh and Ors. v. R. V. Rayamin & Ors.,
[1990] 1 SCC 433 that in the matter of challenging the award there are often
two very distinct and separate grounds-one being an error apparent on the D
face of the award and the other is that the Arbitrator has exceeded his
jurisdiction : whereas in the former the court can look into the agreement and
).,
upon consideration of the agreement, the award can be set aside and in the
latter, the award can be set aside on the ground that the Arbitrator has
exceeded his jurisdiction and the evidence starting on the face of the award
E
will be admitted in order to establish whether the jurisdiction had been
exceeded or not &ince the nature of the dispute is something which has to
be determined whatever might be said about it in the award by the Arbitrator.
The entire submission of the respondent is based upon the judgment in
.., Rayanim (supra). Unfortunately, however, the judgment of this Court Rayanim
(supra) has been misread and not appreciated. In no uncertain terms Mukhe1jee. F
C.J. stated that only in a speaking award the court can look into the reasoning
of the award and it is not open to the court to probe the mental process of
the Arbitrator and speculate, where no reasons are given by the Arbitrator,
as tO what impelled the arbitrator to arrive at his conclusion (vide paragraph
6 of the judgment at page 437 of the Report).
G
Next in the line of decisions relied upon by the respondent is a recent
..,. one of this Court in the case of V.G. George v. Indian Rare Earths Ltd. &
.. Anr., [1999] 3 SCC 762. Relevance of the decision on the merits of the matter
in the instant appeal would be dealt with immediately hereinafter but before
so doing, it would be convenient to note the observations of this Court in H
_)

1196 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [200 I] 3 S.C.R.

~., A paragraph 6 (at page 764 of the Report) wherein it has been categorically
stated that the Court was concerned with clause (a) of Section 30 of the
)--
Arbitration Act which empowers the courts to set aside an award on the
ground that an arbitrator or umpire has misconducted himself or the
proceedings-this observation of the Court itself takes out ~he relevancy of '
the decision in the matter since presently we are concerned with clause (c)
B of Section 30 of the Arbitration Act to wit: 'otherwise invalid'. This is
however, apart from what is noticed hereinbelow as detailed submissions
have been made relying upon the judgment of this court. The recording of
facts by this Court in paragraphs 11, 12 and 13 stand out :;ingularly singular
distinguishing feature between V. G. George and the appeal under consideration
c before this Court presently. For convenience sake, the above noted paragraphs
are set out hereinbelow.

"11. Coming to the present appeal we find that in the impugned award
the arbitrator has stated the case of the parties, the issues framed by
him, his findings on each issue and the amount awarded. We may also
D state here that in the counter-affidavit dated 23.5.1983 filed by the
present appellant before the learned Sub-Judge it had been clearly
stated that the contract is evidenced by three integrated documents
namely (i) tender dated 3.5.1979, (ii) work order dated 15.5.1979 and I"-
(iii) agreement dated 24.3.1979.
E 12. Out of the claims under 10 heads the arbitrator awarded amount
under Claims 3 and 9 of the appellant. Out of 51 issues framed by the
..
arbitrator. Issues 15 to 18 were in respect of Claim 3 and Issues 31 to
37 were in respect of Claim 9. We quote below Issues 15 to 18 in
respect of Claim 3.
F
"15. Whether six acres alone out of the mining area covered by
the tender form ":'ere available for mining on account of
obstruction of Kudikidappukars, ex-workers of Associated
Minerals Co. Ltd. and the local public as alleged by the claimant
in para 14 of the State of Claim?
G
16. Whether it was the respondent's duty to see that the entire
extent of mining area detailed in the tender form was available
for mining and that the mining could be carried out without '('

hindrance and the respondent failed to discharge its duty?

H OR
!SPAT ENUIN. AND FOUND. WORKSv STEEL AUTHO. OF INDIA LTD. [BANERJEE. J.] 1197

Whether it was the claimant's responsibility to settle all problems A.
and objections which arose in the course of mining work?
17. Whether the claimant's suffered loss as mentioned in para 14
of the State of Claim?
18. Whether the respondent is liable to make good the loss
mentioned in Issue 17 and if so, to what extent?" B

13. In respect of the above issues the arbitrator has given his findings
which are as follows:

"15. The allegation that six acres ofland alone out of the mining
area covered by the tender form was available for mining is not C
correct. In 243 acres of land covered by the tender form out of
which 92 acres belonged to the respondent, more than necessary
area sufficient to mine and supply the contract quantity of
2,00,000 to 2,20,000 MT of raw sand was actually available for
mining, but, on some days in April and except on one day, D
during the whole month of May 1980, mining ofraw sand even
in the available area and supply of raw sand from there were not
possible, on some days partially and on other days wholly, on
account of obstruction by kudikidappukars and the local puolic.
16. Claimant's right under the contract was purely personal, it E
did not amount to an interest in the 243 acres of land covered
by the contract and he could not sue strangers in his own name
in respect of that land, it was his responsibility to settle all
problems and objections which arose in the course of the mining
work between him and his mining workers, but not with strangers
like kudikidappukars and the local pubJic who claimed either p
rights in the land or rights and privileges against the respondent,
and it was the respondent's duty to see that the entire extent of
mining area detailed in the tender form was available or mining
and mining operations could be carried on there quietly and
without hindrance, and whenever complaint regarding obstruction
was received the respondent tried to discharge that duty by G
... appealing to public authorities for help, but without success .
17-18. Claimant suffered loss to the extent of Rs. 2,81,461,26 and
the respondent is liable to make good that loss."

The factual narration of VG. George's decision (supra) as above makes H
1198 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [200 I] 3 S.C.R.

A it evident and thus distinguishable from the factual element of the present
appeal and we need not dilate thereon in any further detail suffice it to record
that the decision in V. G. George does not have any manner of application
both by reason of the observations of this Court in paragraph 6 of the Report
as noticed above, as also by reason of distinguishable factual feature, as such
B the decision does not lend any support to the respondent herein.

Similar is the situation pertaining to a decision of this Court in Associated
Engineering Co. v. Government ofAndhra Pradesh & Anr., [1991] 4 SCC 93.
The decision is clearly distinguishable since the Umpire made a speaking
award with reference to claims and gave reasonings for awarding those
C claims. The fact situation in Associated Engineering Co. depicts that Arbitrator
has not only acted arbitrarily and irrationally but he has, in fact, (Umpire in
the decision) abdicated the agreement and went much beyond the scope of
the agreement. This travelling outside the bounds of the contract has led this
ICourt to come to a conclusion that the arbitrator has acted
. without J. urisdiction.
'Incidentally, this Court in paragraph 24 recorded the state of law as below:
D
" ........... But if he has remained inside the parameters of the contract
and has construed the provisions of the contract, his award cannot
be interfered with unless he has given reasons for the award disclosing
an error apparent on the face of it"

E The exposition of law thus in Associated Engineering (supra) is in no way
different and as a matter of fact travels alongwith the decision noticed
hereinbefore in this judgment and not de hors the· same.

The Arbitrator or_ Umpire as the case may be, has no authority or
jurisdiction to abdicate the terms of the contract or what the parties desired
F under the contract and not beyond the same. As a matter of fact in Associated
Engineering (supra) the Umpire has, as regards the claim, directed payment
of a sum of Rs. 4.25 (Rupees four and paise twenty-five) per sq. metre of napa
slab lining towards escalation in the cost of napa slabs and there was, in fact,
no provision in the contract allowing escalation for napa slabs and it is on
G this score, this Court came down heavily upon the authority of the arbitrator
to direct payment of escalation charges when the agreement does not provide
for the same. The decision thus in Associated Engineering (supra) also is of
no assistance to the respondents herein.

Presently in the contextual facts, there is no evidence on record that the
H umpire has overstepped his jurisdiction or has travelled beyond the agreement
!SPAT ENGIN. AND FOUND. WORKS v.STEELAUTHO. OF INDIA LTD. [BANERJEE, J.] 1199

. and it is in this perspective that the court ought not to have entertained the A
\
I 1 objection and set aside the award as passed by the chosen forum of the

.... '
parties. The High Court thus was in manifest error in entertaining the appeal
and setting aside the awards. The order as passed by the High Court cannot
be sustained and the law being well settled on the score should not have
been misread and misapplied by the High Court.
B
The appeal is allowed. The order of the 1st Sub-Divisional Judge. Bokaro
stands restored. There shall however be no order as to costs.

B.S. Appeal allowed.