9911796707
TMI Blog1998 (10) TMI 527X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in relation to a dispute contemplated thereby. The award dated 2nd January, 1998 is set aside. - 12/10/1998 - - - Dated:- 12-10-1998 - S.P. BHARUCHA, V.N. KHARE, JJ. JUDGMENT ORDER The appellants and others filed a writ petition the High Court of Punjab and Haryana against the respondents. The case in the write petition, briefly stated, was that the writ petitioners were owners of agricultural lands, residential buildings, tubewells, etc. at Gaddiwara within the municipal limits of Panipat. The second respondent, the National Fertilizer Limited, had installed a plant for the manufacture of fertilisers in the vicinity. The second respondent had constructed a kucha bund around the original pond and was using it for depositing effluents. The bund was made of earth which breached due to the excessive pressure of the effluents and the accumulation of burnt ash. The result was that water and ask had escaped from the pond and had damaged the writ petitioners standing crops, mango gardens and residential properties. There had been a loss of soil from 6 inches to 2 feet, on their lands which had made them unfit for cultivation untill such time as they were reclaimed. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng with the learned umpire, entered upon the reference. The appellants filed a statement of claim dated 27 th September, 1997 before the learned arbitrators. They contended that effluents such as fly ash emitted by the second respondent s plant and slurry covered to the appellants land because of successive breaches of the bund and pond bad caused havoc to the agricultural land, agricultural crops, mango orchards and fishery ponds and had destroyed the appellant s land. Details were stated. The estimated value of profits lost by the appellants were set out, aggregating to Rs.4.2 lakhs for the years 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1991. The appellants submitted that by August, 1991 their land had become completely unfit for cultivation because of chemical pollutants which had seeped therein and fly ash had been deposited over the trees. etc. "The value of the land thus totally diminished in so far as the land was completely destroyed. ....... The land being completely destroyed and having become worthless both for commercial and non-commercial use, the party No.1 is claiming the entire value of the land estimated at (Rs.)2 crores and 40 lakhs as damage of propert ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eneral pointed out that the award made copious references to an inspection report made by the learned arbitrators consequent upon a site visit. He submitted that in as much as a copy of the inspection report had not been made available by the learned arbitrators to the second respondent, the second respondent had been unable to present its case thereon and the principles of natural justice had been violated. In this behalf the learned Attorney General drew our attention to Section 34(2)(iii) of the Act. The learned Attorney General submitted, lastly, that the award of interest was without jurisdiction because there was no claim for interest. In any event, he submitted, the grant of pre-reference interest at the rate of 12% per annum was without jurisdiction, and the amount of such interest aggregated to Rs.66,45,557.96. In support of his contention on the aspect of interest, the learned Attorney General relied upon the judgment of this Court in State of Orissa vs. B.N. Agarwalla, 1997 (2)S.C 469, and the provisions of Section 3(1)(b) of the Interest Act, 1978. Mr. D.D. Thakur, learned counsel for the appellants, drew our attention to the prayers in the writ petition and to an app ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n and Country Planning Department. The second party No.2 contended that the land for which the licence was granted was not owned by Party No.1 Nevertheless it could not be disputed that the land for which permission was granted was part and parcel of the disputed land and similarly situated in all respects. The irresistible inference is that the demised land could be developed into a housing colony. During our inspection we noticed that the land is hardly 3 Kms. Away form the G.T Road passing through Panipat. G.T. Road is also called Sher Shah Suri Marg and it is agreed over from Calcutta to Rawalpindi (now forming part of Pakistan). C.W.1 Shri Vineet Khanna says that the Housing colony could not be developed because of the fear of the deluge with ash slurry water on the demised land. Thus, the land other than the land under orchard was at one time the most fertile land yielding considerable annual income as depicted in the average produce statement, Exhibit TW1/1. The land under the orchard measuring 17 acres similarly fetched considerable income to Party No.1 as stated by Shri Vineet Khanna. Now this land is unfit for cultivation. However, as was notice and observed by us in our ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d that the second respondent had not stated that any part of the inspection report was incorrect. In the matter of interest, learned counsel referred to the provisions of Section 31 (7)(a) of the Act. Section 31 deals with the form and contents of and arbitral award and sub-section 7, clause (a) states: "Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, where and in so far as an arbitral award is for the payment of money, the arbitral tribunal may include in the sum for which the award is made interest, at such rate as it deems reasonable, on the whole or any part of the money, for the whole or any part of the period between the date on which the cause of action arose and the date on which the award is made." Section 34(1) of the Act states that recourse to a court against an arbitral award may be made only by an application for setting aside such award in accordance with sub-sections (2) and (3). Under sub-section (2), Clause (iv) an award amy be set aside if it "deals with a dispute not contemplated by or not falling within the terms of the submission to arbitration, or it contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration". The proviso to cl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rmination. That the first of the points relates to compensation for damage suffered by the appellants does not by itself support learned counsel s submission for compensation for damage to the appellants residential house, crops and mango garden was within the scope of the reference. The first point must be read in light of this restricted claim and not as encompassing the claim for compensation for the alleged lost potential of the land. The argument of learned counsel for the appellants was that the learned arbitrators had found that the appellants land was beyond reclamation and, therefore, the learned arbitrators had moulded the relief and awarded compensation for the land s lost potential. We do not find in the paragraphs of the award quoted by learned counsel, or for that matter, anywhere else in the award, a discussion or conclusion by the learned arbitrators that the appellants land could not be reclaimed. In fact, the award quotes a witness as explaining reclamation thus : "By this I mean bringing the soil to its natural position. The natural position of the soil can be had after the total removal of the coal ash". A perusal of the award suggests that the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
