HC held that the arbitral award was patently illegal due to...

HC held that the arbitral award was patently illegal due to manifest disregard of contract terms. The court's jurisdiction under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act is limited to examining the correctness of Section 34 proceedings. The impugned judgment correctly set aside the awards by finding that the arbitral tribunal ignored explicit contractual clauses and misinterpreted the General Conditions of Contract. The court emphasized that when contract terms are unambiguous, prior negotiations should not be considered, and interpretations defeating the contract's purpose cannot be sustained. Consequently, the appeals were dismissed without cost.