Foreign-currency award cannot be converted into Indian Rupees where the contract and award provide only foreign-currency payment.

The contract and arbitral award provided for payment only in Iraqi Dinars and US Dollars, and the agreement specified conversion solely between those foreign currencies. The award also contemplated payment in foreign currency, and the earlier judgment made the award's directions controlling. On that basis, there was no contractual or adjudicatory foundation to convert the awarded amount into Indian Rupees or to fix any conversion date. The operative principle is that a court cannot impose a rupee conversion mechanism where the contract and award authorise only foreign-currency payment.

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Issues: Whether, in light of the agreement, the arbitral award, and the earlier judgment, any date could be fixed for conversion of the awarded amount from US Dollars into Indian Rupees.

Analysis: The agreement provided for payment in Iraqi Dinars and US Dollars and specified conversion only between Iraqi Dinars and US Dollars. It did not contemplate payment in Indian currency. The award likewise directed payment in Iraqi Dinars and stated that such amount would be convertible into US Dollars as per the original agreement. The earlier judgment had also made it clear that the directions in the award would govern the field. On this material, there was no contractual or adjudicatory basis to convert the awarded amount into Indian Rupees or to identify a date for such conversion.

Conclusion: No date for conversion from US Dollars into Indian Rupees could be fixed, and the awarded amount was payable only in the foreign currency contemplated by the agreement and award.

Final Conclusion: The reference question was answered by holding that Indian Rupee conversion was not warranted on the facts and terms governing the award, and the appeals were disposed of accordingly.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the contract and award provide only for payment in foreign currency and do not authorise conversion into Indian Rupees, the court cannot superimpose a rupee conversion date contrary to those terms.

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