In Brief
Indian Oil Corporation and NCC Limited had contracted for construction work with a General Conditions of Contract clause restricting arbitration to 'Notified Claims' properly included in the Final Bill, excluding questions of whether claims qualify as 'Notified Claims.' The Supreme Court held that while questions of 'accord and satisfaction' involving disputed facts should be left to the Arbitral Tribunal, the determination whether a claim is a 'Notified Claim' is an 'excepted matter' contractually vested in the General Manager. The Court partly allowed the appeals: Civil Appeal 341 was dismissed to permit arbitration (on accord/satisfaction grounds); Appeals 342, 343, 345 were allowed (non-Notified Claims); Appeal 344 was partly allowed, limiting arbitration to only the claim declared a 'Notified Claim' by the General Manager.
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