In Brief
Between 1998 and 2002, Gujarat Water Supply Board awarded contracts to Saryu Plastics for PVC pipes but later blacklisted the company for alleged overpayments. After over a decade, the parties agreed to arbitration in 2012 with a strict 6-month mandate. Though proceedings stretched across three years—largely due to the Board's delays and non-compliance—the arbitrator delivered an award in October 2015 granting ₹1.01 crore with simple interest for the pre-award period. The Commercial Court later altered this to compound interest, inflating liability to ₹144.93 crores. The Supreme Court restored the original award, holding that changing interest types is substantive modification beyond Section 33's corrective scope, and rejecting the Board's expired-mandate argument as the Board had tacitly consented to extensions through continued participation without formal objection.
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