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2024 (4) TMI 1007 - MADRAS HIGH COURTValidity of Arbitral Award - Ordering the petitioner to repay advances for rejected testing kits with interest and legal costs - Grievance of the petitioner is that the petitioner could not reexport the testing kits as the seals of the testing kits had been tampered/broken - HELD THAT:- Scope of interference under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is very limited. This Court can neither sit as a Court of appeal or re-appreciate the evidence placed before the Arbitral Tribunal or substitute the finding of the Arbitral Tribunal with its own conclusion on facts or evidence. In this connection, the decision of the Honourable Supreme Court in PROJECT DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HIGHWAYS NO. 45 E AND 220 NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA VERSUS M. HAKEEM & ANR. [2021 (7) TMI 1343 - SUPREME COURT] is invited wherein, it was held that the power to set aside an Arbitral Award under Section 34 of the Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996 does not include the authority to modify the award. It further held that an award can be 'set aside' only on limited grounds as specified in Section 34 of the Act and it is not an appellate provision. It further held that an application under Section 34 for setting aside an award does not entail any challenge on merits to an award. The Honourable Supreme Court in Ssangyong Engineering and Construction Co Ltd versus National Highway Authority of India [2019 (5) TMI 1879 - SUPREME COURT] has held that an award can be set aside on the ground of patent illegality under Section 34 (2-A) of the Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996 only where the illegality in the award goes to the root of the matter. It further held that erroneous application of law by an Arbitral Tribunal or the re-appreciation of evidence by the Court under Section 34 (2-A) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is not available - The Court held that the above ground is available only where the view taken by the Arbitral Tribunal is an impossible view while construing the contract between the parties or where the award of the Tribunal lacks any reasons. The records also indicate that the petitioner had been promised to return the balance as and when payment were received from the buyer on the export made by the petitioner. Therefore, even on this count, theory put forward before this Court that the Impugned Award suffers from patent illegality is not acceptable. Therefore, the impugned Award does not call for any interference - There is nothing on record to show that there is a patent illegality in the impugned award or to infer a conclusion that the impugned award is in conflict with the public policy of India. The impugned award indicates that the evidence was examined and there was an admission by the petitioner to refund the amount on the returned 1,48,800 test kits. The interpretation placed by the arbitral tribunal in so far as proviso to Section 16 (1) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, also does not call for any interference. This original petition filed under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has to fail - Therefore, this original petition is liable to be dismissed and is accordingly dismissed.
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