No 136 of 1971
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated August 6 1970 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court Indore Bench in Civil Revision No 415 of 1969 I N Shroff for the appellant
section VGupte section K Mehta and K L Mehtafor respondent No1
Vaidialingam J Civil Miscellaneous Petition No 5801 of 1971 is by the first respondent is an application under sections 17 and 29 of the hereinafter to be referred as the Act to pass a judgment and decree according to the Award of the arbitrator dated August 24 1971 and to grant interest from the date of the decree on the amount found payable by the appellant
Civil Miscellaneous Petition No 5802 of 1971 by the State of Madhya Pradesh the appellant in the Civil Appeal is an application requesting this Court to decline to take the Award dated August 24 1971 on its file
Without prejudice to the above prayer there is a further request made to this Court to set aside or modify the Award in certain respects
The relevant facts leading up to the filing of the two applications may be adverted to The erstwhile State of Madhya Bharat and entered into a contract with Ms Saith  Skelton  P Ltd the first respondent for the supply and erection of Pen stocks for Gandhi Sagar Power Station Chambal Hydel works
The acceptance of the contract was by tender No ProjectSE 235 2522 FII25 dated June 5 1956
Under the said contract the first respondent firm was required to supply material for the five penstocks of POR Jhalwar Road Railway Station at Rs 1570 per M Ton within the time stipulated the total quantity being 463939 M Tons
The material was to be transported from Jhalwar Road Railway Station to the works site by the consignee he Madhya Bharat Government and the work of erection was to commence on the receipt at the work site of running length of 96 ft for any of the penstocks
Clause 21 of the contract provided for any question or dispute arising under the conditions of the contract or in connection therewith to be referred to the arbitrators one to be nominated by the State and the other by the firm The said clause also provided for the matter being referred to an Umpire to be appointed by the arbitrators in case of disagreement between them
That clause also referred to certain other matters relating to arbitration proceedings
Disputes arose between the appellant and the respondent firm with reference to the performance of the contract
The firm intimated the appellant on December 31 1959 nominating one Shri T R Sharma as an arbitrator under Cl
21 of the contract and also called upon the appellant to nominate an arbitrator
The Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals who were acting as the agent of the Madhya Bharat Government nominated one Shri G section Gaitonde as an arbitrator on behalf of the appellant
But the said arbitrator resigned his appointment and in consequence on April 26 1960 one Shri R R Desai was nominated as an arbitrator on behalf of the appellant
This nomination was also by the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals
On September 6 1960 the two arbitrators appointed one Sri R C Soni as an Umpire
The two arbitrators disagreed in their views resulting in the matter being referred to the Umpire on October 20 1961
According to the appellant the appointment of Shri Gaitonde in the first instance and of Shri R R Desai later as an arbitrator by the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals was without any authority from the appellant
Later on the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals again reappointed Shri R R Desai as an arbitrator on behalf of the appellant on January 4 1961
According to the appellant the appointment of Shri R C Sone as Umpire on September 6 1960 was not valid
Accordingly the appellant filed in the Court of the Additional District Judge Mandsaur Civil Miscellaneous Case No 16 of 1962 under section 5 of the Act for setting aside the nominations as arbitrators of Shri T R Sharma and Shri R R Desai as well as the appointment by them of Shri R C Soni as the Umpire
By order dated October 19 1963 the Addl
District Judge Mandsaur held that the appointments of Shri R R Desai as an arbitrator and Shri 236 R C Soni as Umpire were both invalid and not binding on the appellant
The firm filed all appeal before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh against the order of the Addl
District Judge
This appeal was later oil treated as a Revision and numbered as Civil Revision No 415 of 1969
The High Court by its order dated August 6 1970 appointed Shri R C Soni as the Sole Arbitrator under section 122 of the Act and accordingly modified the order of the Addl
District Judge Mandsaur
The appellant filed Special Leave Petition No 2370 of 1970 in this Court for grant of Special Leave to Appeal against the order of the High Court dated August 6 1970
The firm entered caveat
On January 29 1971 this Court ranted Special Leave land by consent of parties appointed an arbitrator whose Award is sought to be made a decree of the Court by the respondent in its application CMP No 5801 of 1971 and is sought to be set aside by the appellant by CMP No 5802 of 1971
As the terms of the order passed by this Court are material it is reproduced below  Special Leave is granted
The appeal is allowed The appointment of Shri R C Soni as the sole arbitrator is set aside by consent of the parties
Mr V section Desai Senior Advocate is appointed Arbitrator by consent of the parties to go into all the questions in this matter and make his awar
The remuneration for the arbitrator would be Rs 5000 which will be shared by both the parties equally
The arbitrator will make his award within three months from today
The parties will be at liberty 1 to mention for extension of time for making the award
G K Mitter J January 29 1971
A N Ray J On February 1 1971 this Court gave directions in the appeal in the presence of the counsel for both parties that the records of the arbitration be called for forthwith and sent to the sole arbitrator Mr V section Desai appointed as per order dated January 29 1971
Again on April 30 1971 this Court in the presence of the counsel for both the parties extended the time for making the Award by four months and also permitted the arbitrator to hold the arbi tration proceedings at Bombay
The arbitrator gave his Award on August 24 1971 and filed the same in this Court the next day
He also crave notice to the parties of the Making and signing of 237 the Award
A signed copy of the Award was also sent to both the parties
The operative part of the Award is as follows  1 The opponents the State of Madhya Pradesh will pay to the claimants a sum of Rs 17965318 p for the balance payable to them in respect of the price of supply and erection of the 5 penstocks
2 The State will also pay interest on the said amount at 9 per annum simple interest from 7th June 1958 to the date of decree
The State will also refund to the claimants a sum of Rs 1541419 p which they have recovered from the claimants as excess railway freight
V section Desai Sole Arbitrator
 In CMP No 5801 of 1971 the firm prays for passing a judgment and decree according to the Award and also prays for grant of interest from the date of decree at the rate of 9 per annum
On the other hand the appellant State in its application CMP No 5802 of 1971 prays for an order declining to take the Award on its file or in any event to set aside or modify the award in respect of interest granted prior to August 24 1971 as well as the direction regarding the refund by the appellant of the sum of Rs 1541419 P
The Award is also sought to be modified on the ground that the award of interest at 9 is very excessive
The question of pronouncing judgment according to the Award as provided under section 17 of the Act and which is the prayer in CMP No 5801 of 1971 will arise only if the prayer to set aside the Award made in CMP No 5802 of 1971 by the State is rejected
Therefore we will proceed to consider the contentions raised by Mr 1
N Shroff learned counsel for the appellant in support of the application CMP No 5802 of 1971
Mr Shroff has raised the following four contentions 1 The arbitrator had no power to suo motu file his Award as he has done in this case and as such no action can be taken on such an Award 2 This Court is not the Court as contemplated by section 142 read with section 2c of the Act
Hence the filing of the Award in  this Court is illegal and ineffective in law 3 The arbitrator had no jurisdiction to award interest from a period anterior to the date of the award or reference and 4 The Arbitrator has committed a manifest error in directing the refund of Rs 1541419 P when this amount has already been taken into account in arriving at the figure of Rs 17965318 P 238 We will now proceed to deal with these contentions scriatim
With regard to the first contention which relates to the validity of the filing of the Award in this Court suo motu reliance is placed by Mr Shroff on section 142 of the Act
It is the contention of the counsel that under this section an arbitrator can cause an award to be filed in court only under two circumstances  a when a request to do so is made by any party to the  arbitration agreement or any person claiming under such party and b when the arbitrator is directed by the Court to file the award
In this case it is pointed out that no such request was made by any of the parties to the arbitration agreement or any person claiming under such party to the arbitrator to file the Award
It is pointed out that there was no direction by this Court to the arbitrator to file the Award
Hence it is urged that the filing of the Award suo motu is illegal as being contrary to the terms of section 142 of the Act
Mr section V Gupte learned counsel for the respondent firm referred us to section 38 of the Act and pointed out that the scheme of the Act clearly shows that the Award has to be filed in the Court by the arbitrator either suo motu or on request made by the parties to the arbitration agreement or any person claiming under such party or on being directed by the Court
The counsel pointed out there is no prohibition in section 142 of the Act against the arbitrator filing the Award in Court suo motu
The question specifically arose before the Nagpur High Court in Narayan Bhawu vs Dewajibhawu1
The High Court held that there is nothing in section 142 of the Act which precludes the arbitrator from filing the Award suo motu and it is not correct to say that the Award should be filed only if the parties make a request to the arbitrator to file the award or make an application to the Court for that purpose
We are in agreement with this view of the law especially when there is no prohibition in the Act particularly in section 142 against the arbitrator filing suo motu his Award in Court
Mr Shroff referred us to the decision in Parasramka Com mercial Company vs Union of India2
From the facts stated in the said decision it is seen that the arbitrator made his Award and signed the same on April 26 1950
The arbitrator without sending any notice of the making and signing of the Award sent a copy of the signed Award to the parties
The appellant therein acknowledged receipt of the said signed copy of the Award by his letters dated 5th and 16th May 1950 but he filed an application on March 30 1951 in the Subordinate Judge s Court for passing a decree in terms of the Award
An objection was raised by the 1 A I R 2  239 opponent that the application was out of time under article 178 of the Indian Limitation Act 1908 as not having been filed within 90 days of the date of service of the notice of the making of the Award
It is also seen that the arbitrator on July 3 1951 filed the original Award before the Court suo motu
The Subordinate Judge rejected the application filed on March 30 1951 as barred by time
That order was confirmed by the High Court
This Court after a consideration of section 141 of the Act held that the serving by the arbitrator on the appellant before this Court of a signed copy of the Award amounted to giving him notice in writing of the making of the Award
This Court further upheld as correct the view of the Subordinate Judge and the High Court that the application filed by the appellant beyond the period prescribed under article 178 of the Indian Limitation Act 1908 was barred
This Court did not express any view regarding the action taken by the arbitrator in filing suo motu the Award and left open the question as follows   
But we make it clear that the other part of the case namely what is to happen to the award sent by the Arbitrator himself to the court has yet to be determined and what we say here will not affect the determination
of that question
Obviously enough that matter arises under the second sub section of section 14 and will have to be considered quite apart from the application made by the company to have the award made into rule of Court
 Again the question whether a plea of limitation can be raised with respect to the suo matu filing of the award by the arbitrator was left open as
follows  
As to whether similar objections can be raised in answer to the award filed at the instance of the arbitrator is a question which we cannot go into the present appeal and no expression of opinion must be attributed to us on that point Therefore it is clear from what is stated above that in the said decision this Court had no occasion to consider whether an award can be filed suo motu by an arbitrator nor the further question whether such filing should be within the period of limitation provided under the relevant provisions of the Limitation Act
In the case before us the period of limitation is dealt with under Entry 119 of the Schedule to the 
As the arbitrator in this case made his Award on August 24 1971 and filed the same the next day the question of limitation if any does not at all arise
We do not express any opinion whether the period of limitation will apply when the arbitrator files his award Suo 887Sup
CI72 240 motu
As the filing of the Award by the Arbitrator suo motu is legal the first contention of Mr Shroff has to be rejected
The second contention of Mr Shroff is that this Court is not Court as fined under section 2c of the Act where the Award could be filed
Section 2 c of the Act is as follows  2
In this Act unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context c Court means a Civil Court having jurisdiction to decide the questions forming the subject matter of the reference if the same had been the subject matter of a suit but does not except for the purpose of arbitration proceedings under section 21 include a Small Cause Court According to Mr Shroff the Award should have been filed not in this Court but in the Court of the Addl
District Judge Mandsaur as that is the Court which will have jurisdiction to entertain the suit regarding the subject matter of the reference
We are not inclined to accept this contention of Mr Shroff
It should be noted that the opening words of section 2 are In this Act unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context
Therefore the expression Court  will have to be understood as defined in section 2c of the Act only if there is nothing repugnant in the subject or context
It is in that light that the expression Court occurrmg in section 142 of the Act will have to be understood and interpreted
It was this Court that appointed Shri V section Desai on January 29 1971 by consent of parties on an arbitrator and to make his Award
It will be seen that no further directions were given in the said order which will indicate that this Court had not divested itself of its jurisdiction to deal with the Award or matters arising out of the Award
In fact the indications are to the contrary
The direction in the order dated January 29 1971 is that the arbitrator is to make his Award
Surely the law contemplates further steps to be taken after the Award has been made and quite naturally the forum for taking the further action is only this Court
There was also direction to the effect that the parties are at liberty to apply for extension of time for making the Award
 In the absence of anv other court having been invested with such jurisdiction by the order the only concluonsion that is possible is that such a request must be made only to the court which passed that order namely this Court
That this Court retained complete control over the arbitration proceedings is made clear by its orders dated February 1 1971 and April 30 1971
On the former date after hearing counsel for both the parties this Court gave direction that the record of 241 the arbitration proceedings be called for and delivered to the Sole Arbitrator Mr V section Desai
On the latter date again after hearing the counsel this Court extended the time for making the Award by four months and further permitted the arbitrator to hold the arbitration proceedings at Bombay
The nature of the order passed on January 29 1971 and the subsequent proceedings referred to above clearly show that this Court retained full control over the arbitration proceedings
Mr Shroff referred us to the fact that in the order dated January 29 1971 it is clearly stated The appeal is allowed
According to him when the appeal has come to an end finally this Court had lost all jurisdiction regarding the arbitration proceedings and therefore the filing of the Award should be only in the Court as defined in section 2c of the Act
Here again we are not inclined to accept the contention of Mr Shroff
That the appeal was allowed is no doubt correct
But the appeal was allowed by setting aside the order of the High Court and this Court in turn appointed Mr V section Desai as the Sole Arbitrator
All other directions contained in the order dated January 29 1971 and the further proceedings as pointed out earlier indicate the retention of full control by this Court over the arbitration proceedings
In Ct A Ct
Nachiappa Chettiar and others vs Cf
A Cf
Subramaniam Chettiar1 the question arose whether the trial eourt had jurisdiction to refer the subject matter of a suit to an arbitrator when the decree passed in the suit was pending appeal before the High Court
Based upon section 21 it was urged before this Court that the reference made by the trial court when the appeal was pending and the award made in consequence of such reference were both invalid as the trial court was mot competent to make the order of reference
This Court rejected the said contention and after a reference to sections 2c and 21 of the Act held that the expression Court occurring in section 21 includes also the Appellate Court proceedings before which are a continuance of the suit
It was further held that the word suit in section 21 includes also appellate proceedings
In our opinion applying the analogy of the above decision the expression Court occurring in section 14 2 of the Act will have to be understoodin the context in which it occurs
So understood it follows that this Court is the Court under section 142 where the arbitration Award could be validly field
The decision in Union of India vs Surjeet Singh Atwal2 relied on by Mr Shroff dealt with a different aspect and therefore it is not necessary for us to refer to the same
The above reasoning leads us to the conclusion that the filing of the Award in this Court by the arbitrator was valid and legal
The second contention of Mr Shroff will stand rejected
1  2 242 The third contention of Mr Shroff is that the arbitrator had no jurisdiction to award interest from a period anterior to the date of award or reference
Before we deal with this contention it is necessary to refer to the findings of the arbit rator in his Award
Issues Nos 6 7 and 19 frame by the arbitrator and which are relevant on this aspect are as follows 6 a Was the claimant entitled to the payment for supply as well as for erection on the total weight of 463939 M tons inclusive of electrodes  6 b If not what are the weights on which the price of supply and the erection charges are to be calculated
What is due to the claimant from the respondent in respect of the supply and erection of the penstocks  19
Are any of the parties entitled to interest and or any other relief
 On issue No 6a the arbitrator found that the firm was entitled to the same weight both for the calculation of price as well as for the price for erection and the said weight was 463939 M Tons inclusive of electrodes
In view of the above finding on issue No 6a the arbitrator held that issue No 6b does not survive
On issue No 7 he found that for the price of supply and erection of 463939 M Tons at the rate specified in contract the total price due to the firm comes to Rs 121552018P
It was admitted before the arbitrator that the firm had been paid by the State of sum of Rs 1035867
In view of this admission the arbitrator found that the balance payable to the firm towards the price for supply and erection is Rs 17965318 P On issue No 19 the arbitrator found that the firm is entitled to interest at 9 per annum on the balance of Rs 17965318 P from June 7 1958 the date on which the final inspection of the penstock took place
The interest was to be paid till the date of the decree
It is on the basis of the above findings that the arbitrator made the Award the operative part of which has already been extracted in the earlier part of the judgment
The direction regarding the payment of Rs 17965318 P is not challenged by the State
It is only the direction regarding the period from which interest is payable that is under challenge
The arbitrator has made the interest payable from June 7 243 1958 on the ground that it was the date on which final inspection took place and when the amount become payable to the respondent
Mr Shroff referred us to a decision of the Judicial Com mittee and to certain decisions of this Court to the effect that section 34 of the Code of Civil Procedure will not apply to the proceedings before an arbitrator as he is not a Court and that interest cannot be awarded by way of damages
He further referred to those decisions in support of his contention that in the absence of any usage or contract express or implied or of any provision of law to justify the award of interest on an amount for a period before the institution of the suit interest anterior to the date of the suit cannot be allowed
The decisions referred to by Mr Shroff are Bengal Nagpur Raliway Company Limited vs Ruttanji Ramji and others1 Seth Thawardas Pherumal vs The Union of India2 Mahabir Prashad Rungta vs Durga Datt3 Union of India vs A L Rallia Ram4 Vithal Das vs Rupchand and others5 and Union of India vs Bungo Steel  Furniture Pvt
Ltd 6
It is no doubt true that for awarding interest under the Interest Act 1939 or under section 34 of the
Code of Civil Procedure certain circumstances must exist
But one of the principles laid down is that interest prior to the institution of a suit can be awarded if there is any provision of a suit can be awarded if there is any provision of law to justify the award of such interest
In the cases referred to above it is seen that there was neither any agreement pleaded for payment of interest nor was any provision of law entitling the party to recover interest prior to the period of the suit or arbitration proceedings referred to or relied upon
Under such circumstances it was held that the arbitrator or a court had no power to award interest prior to the date of the Award
In Union of India vs Bungo Steel Furniture Pvt
Ltd 17this Court recognised the power of an arbitrator to award interest on the amount of the award from the date of the award till the date of the decree
According to Mr Shroff the power of the arbitrator to award interest is only from the date of the award and not for any period anterior to that date
In Firm Madanlal Roshanlal Mahajan vs Hukamchand Mills Ltd Indore7 the power of the arbitrator to whom the subject matter of a suit had been referred for arbitration to award pendente life interest was considered by this Court
It was held in 1 LR 65 IA 66
2 3  4  5 1966 Supp
SCR 164
6  7  244 the said decision that all the disputes in the suit were referred to the arbitrator for his decision
One of the disputes so referred was whether the respondent therein was entitled to pendente lite interest
h was held that though in terms section 34 CPC does not apply to the arbitration it was an implied term of the reference in the suit that the arbitrator was to decide the dispute according to law to grant such relief with regard to pendente lite interest as the Court itself could give if it decided the dispute
It was further held that such a power of the arbitrator was not fettered either by arbitration agreement or by the Act
The decision in Seth Thawardas Pherumal vs The Union of India1 distinguished on the ground that the said decision is silent on the question whether an arbitrator can award interest during the pendency of the arbitration proceedings if all the disputes in the suit including the claim for interest were referred for arbition
From the decision in Firm Madanlal Roshanlal Mahajan vs Hukamchand Mills Ltd Indore2 it is clear that if all the disputes are referred for arbitration the arbitrator has power to award interest pendente lite ie during the pendency of the arbitration proceedings
In the case before there is no controvery that all the disputes including a claim for payment of the amount with interest was referred to the arbitrator
The arbitrator as pointed out earlier found that the firm was entitled to the Payment as price in the sum of Rs 17965318 P
The arbitrator has further found that this amount became payable as balance price for the goods supplied by the firm on June 7 1958 on which date the final inspection took place
If that is so section 61 of the Sat  of Goods Act 1930 squarely applies and it saves the right of the seller in this case the firm to recover interest where by law interest is recoverable
Sub section 2 of section 61 which is material is as follows  61 2 In the absence of a contract to the contrary the Court may award interest at such rate as it thinks fit on the amount of the Price  a to the seller in a suit by him for the amount of the price from the date of the tender of the or from the date on which the price was payable
b to the buyer in a suit by him for the refund of the price in a case of a breach of the contract on the part of the seller from the date on which the payment was made 1 2  245 in the case before us admittedly the contract does not pro vide that no interest is payable on the amount that may be found due to any one of them
if so it follows that the seller namely the firm is entitled to claim interest from the date on which the price became due and payable
The finding of the arbitrator in this case is that the price became payable on June 7 1958
As held by this Court in Union of India vs A L Rallia Ram1 which related to an arbitration proceeding under sub section 2 of section 61 in the absence of a contract to the contrary the seller is eligible to be awarded interest on the amount of the price for the goods sold
On this principle it follows that the award of interest from June 7 1958 is justified
If the contention of Mr Shroff that under no circumstances anarbitrator can award interest prior to the date of the Award or prior to the date of reference is accepted then the position will be very anomalous
As an illustration we may point out that there may be cases where the only question that is referred to the arbitrator is whether any of the parties is entitled to claim interest on the amount due to him from a date which may be long anterior to the date of reference
When such a question is referred to the arbitrator naturally he has to decide whether the claim for award of interest from the date referred to by the parties is acceptable or not
If the arbitrator accepts that claim he will be awarding interest from the date which will be long prior even to the date of reference
Therefore the question ultimately will be whether the dispute referred to the arbitrator included the claim for interest from any particular period or whether the party is entitled by contract or usage or by a provision of law for interest from a particular date
Mr Shroff further contended that the award of interest at 9 per annum is exorbitant
The short answer for negativing this contention is that it is seen from the claim statement filed by both the appellant and the respondent firm that each of them claimed for payment of the amount due to them with interest at 12 per annum under section 61 of the 
Therefore it follows that the rate of interest awarded is not excessive
As we have already held that the arbitrator has got power in this case to award interest from June 7 1958 at the rate specified by him the third contention of Mr Shroff will have to be rejected
The last contention of Mr Shroff relates to the direction regarding the refund of Rs 1541419 P The contention is that this amount has already been taken into account by the arbitrator when he directed the payment of Rs 17965318 P Mr Shroff 1  246 was not able to satisfy us that the amount directed to be paid as refund has been already taken into account in the amount fixed as the balance price payable by the State
Therefore this contention also will have to be rejected 
Now that we have rejected all the contentions of Mr Shroff raised in CMP No 5802 of 1971 it follows that the prayer asked fortherein cannot be granted
Now coming to CMP No 5801 of 1971 filed by the firm that application is accepted and a judgment and decree are passed on the basis of the Award as against the State is favour of the respondent firm
The appellant State will pay to the respondent firm a sum of Rs 17965318 P with 9 per annum simple interest from June 7 1958 till the date of the decree and thereafter at 6 till the date of payment
The appellant State will also refund to the respondent firm a sum of Rs 1541419 P which they have recovered from them as excess railway freight
In the result CMP No 5802 of 1971 will stand dismissed with costs
CMP No 5801 of 1971 is allowed with costs
A decree as stated above will issue


Summary:
Disputes having arisen between the appellant and the respondent with reference to the performance of a contract which provided for arbitration steps were taken to appoint arbitrators and an umpire
The appellant filed a petition in the District Judge s Court having jurisdiction over the matter for setting aside the nominations
When the matter came up to this Court in appeal this Court appointed a sole arbitrator with consent of the parties
Thereafter in the presence  of counsel for both parties this Court gave directions in the appeal that the arbitration records be sent to the sole arbitrator and later extended the time for making the award and gave directions regarding the venue
The arbitrator gave his award directing the payment of a certain sum by the appellant to the respondent with simple interest at 9 from a date anterior to the reference and filed the award ip
this Court the next day
The respondent filed a petition for passing a decree in terms of the award but the appellant opposed the petition
On the questions  1 Whether the arbitrator had no power suo motu to file his award Whether the award should not have been filed in this Court as it is not the Court contemplated by sections Z4 and 142 of the  and 3 Whether the arbitrator had no jurisdiction to
award the interest from a date anterior to the date of award or reference HELD  1 There is nothing in section 142 of the Act which precludes the arbitrator from filing the award suo motu and it is not correct to say that the award should be filed only if the parties make a request to the arbitrator to file it or make an application to the Court for that purpose
The arbitrator having filed the award the next day after making it no question of limitation arises
239 G B Narayan Bhawu vs Dewajibhawu AIR 1945 Nag 117 approved
2 The expresion Court  occurring in section 142 of the Act will have to be understood in the context in which it occurs because the definition of the word in section 2c applies only when there is nothing repugnant in the subject or context
The word Court  would include an appellate court  and the word suit  would include appellate proceedings 
Merely because the order of this Court appointing the sole arbitrator stated the appeal is allowed  it is not as if this Court had lost all jurisdiction regarding the arbitration proceedings
The various directions given by this Court indicate that this Court retained full control over the arbitration proceedings
Therefore this Court is the Court under section 142 where the arbitration award should be validly filed
240 E H 241 B D 234 Ct A Ct
Nachiappa
Chettiar  Ors
V Ct
A Ct
Subramaniam Chettiar   referred to
3 In the present case all the disputes including the claim for the payment of interest had been referred to the arbitrator
The contract does not provide that no interest was payable on the amount that may be found due
Therefore the respondent was entitled under section 61 2 of the  to claim interest from the date on which the price became due and payable
The arbitrator had found that the price had become payable from a date anterior to the date of the award
There fore the award of interest from the anterior date was justified
The award of interest at 9 is also not exorbitant because the parties themselves claimed interest at 12 245 A G Union of India vs A L Rallia Ram  and Firm Madanlal Roshanlal Mahajan vs Hukumchand Mills Ltd Indore   followed