Manoj Kumar Ohri JUDGMENT
Manoj Kumar Ohri, J.
1. By way of present Execution Petitions filed under Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter, 'the A&C Act') read with Order XXI Rule 1 CPC, the Decree Holder seeks enforcement of common Award dated 29.07.2020 passed in ARB. PET. Nos. 547/2018, 548/2018, 551/2018 and 549/2018 (hereafter, 'the Award') by the Arbitral Tribunal comprising of a former Judge of this Court as the Sole Arbitrator (hereafter, 'the AT').
2. By way of the Award, AT has awarded cumulative amount of Rs. 5,54,09,437/-, including interest at the rate of 9% per annum from 29.07.2020 till the date of payment (hereafter, 'the Award amount'), in favour of the Award Holder/Decree Holder (hereafter, 'the DH').
3. Award Debtor/Judgement Debtor (hereafter, 'the JD') challenged the award by filing Objections under Section 34, whereas the DH filed the present petition for execution of the Award under Section 36.
4. Record reveals that, in order to avoid facing any coercive action in these proceedings, the JD deposited the entire Award amount, along with the interest till the date of deposit, in this court on 19.05.2021, pursuant to an order dated 15.03.2021 passed in these proceedings. JD wanted to await the outcome of its challenge to the Award for which reason, apparently, it persuaded the court to defer passing any orders in these proceedings.Eventually, JD's objections under Section 34 were dismissed on 06.05.2022, which was not challenged. Consequently, the award attained finality and thus, executable without any impediment.
5. The DH withdrew the Award amount deposited by the JD in pursuance of order dated 02.08.2022, which had resulted in the satisfaction of the award put up for execution in these proceedings. However, the DH has kept the execution alive by demanding interest on the Award amount from 19.05.2021 till 06.05.2022 i.e., from the date of deposit of the Awardamount till the date of dismissal of the objections under Section 34 of the A&C Act.
6. Learned counsel for the DH contended that the deposit of Award amount by the JD in Court per se does not transfer its title to the DH, who could withdraw the said amount only subject to conditions imposed by the Court. As such, the withdrawal of the Award amount, was always conditional. The DH was not free to withdraw the said amount whenever he liked.
7. Per contra, learned counsel for the JD has vehemently opposed the above submissions by contending that the Award amount deposited by the JD on 19.05.2021 was in terms of Order XXI Rule 1 CPC, and as such the DH was free to withdraw the same. After the deposit, the interest ceased to........