The Calcutta High Court on August 25, 2022 in the matter of State of West Bengal v. Tapas Kumar Hazra held that an Arbitral award wherein the arbitrator has given contradictory findings and no reason for arriving at such particular finding is liable to be set aside.

In the instant matter an application was filed under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“A&C Act”) challenging the award passed by an Arbitrator where an agreement was terminated without execution of the entire project work contemplated by the agreement, resulting in dispute between the parties. The Arbitral award was challenged on the grounds that the Arbitrator allowed the claims of the respondent without recording any reasons for the same, gave contradictory findings regarding the issue of delay in the execution of the work and further erred in awarding an amount of compensation that is more than the claim of the respondent.

The Court observed that the Arbitrator has not ascribed any reason for allowing the claims as the arbitrator has not furnished any arithmetical basis or any documentary evidence to support the claim awarded.

Thus, it was held that a party is entitled to know the grounds on which the Arbitrator allows or disallows any claim and allowed the petition to set aside the Arbitral award.