Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

Supreme Court - Daily Orders

State Of Uttarakhand vs M/S Hydel Construction Pvt. Ltd on 10 September, 2024

Author: Hrishikesh Roy

Bench: Hrishikesh Roy

                                                        1

     ITEM NO.54                                 COURT NO.5              SECTION X

                                   S U P R E M E C O U R T O F     I N D I A
                                           RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

     SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) Diary No(s). 35683/2024

     (Arising out of impugned judgment and order dated 07-03-2024 in AFO
     No. 5/2024 passed by the High Court Of Uttarakhand At Nainital)


     STATE OF UTTARAKHAND                                                Petitioner(s)

                                                       VERSUS

     M/S HYDEL CONSTRUCTION PVT. LTD. & ANR.                             Respondent(s)

     (IA   No.199724/2024-CONDONATION  OF   DELAY                  IN    FILING     and   IA
     No.199726/2024-EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. )

     Date : 10-09-2024 This petition was called on for hearing today.

     CORAM :
                              HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HRISHIKESH ROY
                              HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R. MAHADEVAN


     For Petitioner(s)
                                       Ms. Ruchira Gupta, D.A.G.
                                       Ms. Suveni Bhagat, AOR
                                       Ms. Anubha Dhulia, Adv.
                                       Ms. Pooja Tripathi, Adv.

     For Respondent(s)
                                       Mr. Prabhas Bajaj, AOR
                                       Mr. Priyanshu Tyagi, Adv.
                                       Mr. R.K. Nayyar, Adv.
                                       Mr. Rishav Rai, Adv.
                                       Mr. Harsh Chauhan, Adv.
                                       Mr. Rithvik Mathur, Adv.


                              UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

                                                    O R D E R

Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Deepak Joshi Delay condoned.

18:34:06 IST Reason: 2. Heard Mr. Ruchira Gupta, the learned Dy. Advocate General for the State of Uttrakhand.

3. The matter pertains to an arbitration Award rendered by the Arbitration Tribunal on 08.06.2016. The challenge to the award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 was rejected by the Commercial Court on 06.09.2023. The resultant challenge under Section 37 of the Arbitration Act was dismissed by the impugned judgment dated 07.03.2024.

4. The learned counsel for the State would submit that contract in question was transferred in favour of the respondent No.2 – UJVN Ltd. and therefore the State should not have been fastened with the Award liability pursuant to the Award dated 08.06.2016. In support of such contention, the counsel relied on certain correspondence including the letter dated 26.11.2008 written by Superintending Engineer to the Contractors.

5. The exchange of letters by itself without any specific agreement amongst the contracting parties, cannot confer legitimacy to the challenge, at the instance of the Respondent No.2. Therefore the rejection of the challenge to the Award dated 08.06.2016, is found to be as merited.

6. The Special Leave Petition is accordingly dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, stand closed.

   [DEEPAK JOSHI]                                           [KAMLESH RAWAT]
ASTT. REGISTRAR-cum-PS                                   ASSISTANT REGISTRAR