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1983 (10) TMI 234 - SC - Companies LawWhether the rate of conversion mentioned in the said Article IX-3.1 applied only to 20 per cent of the amounts in French Francs payable by ONGC to Forasol in Indian rupees in respect of Forasol's operational fee, standby fee and equipment charges as contended by Forasol or whether it applied to all payments to be made under the said contract, whether in rupees or in French Francs, as contended by ONGC? Whether the enhanced rate of exchange specified by the Umpire in the said award applied only to the amount payable by way of interest to Forasol as contended by ONGC? What date to be selected by the Court for converting into Indian rupees the French Franc part of the said award in respect of which no rate of exchange has been fixed either by the said contract or the said award? Held that:- It is pertinent to note that under Article IX-3.1 the amount of fees and charges payable to Forasol were to be computed in French Francs and thereafter 80 per cent thereof was to be paid in French Francs and the remaining in Indian rupees. Even with respect to such twenty per cent Forasol did not want to be dependent upon a possible fluctuation in the exchange rate of rupee and, therefore, the 20 per cent part of the amount computed in French Francs was covenanted to be converted at a fixed rate provided in the said Article IX-3.1. It is thus only the 20 per cent of the said fees and charges computed in French Francs in Forasol's invoices but payable in Indian rupees which was to be converted at the aforesaid rate of exchange specified in the said contract. The contention of ONGC that the fixed rate of conversion provided in Article IX-3.1 applied to all payments to be made under the said contract to Forasol must, therefore, be rejected. The Division Bench of the Delhi High Court was, the in error in holding that the enhanced rate of exchange specified in the said award applied only to the amount of interest payable to Forasol. Thus this enhanced rate of exchange applied to the payments in Indian rupees under Article IX-3.1 of the said contract to be made by ONGC to Forasol from and after November 30,1966. The learned Single Judge rightly took the date of the decree as the date of conversion. The amounts on which interest is claimed by ONGC were payable by Forasol in rupees and not in French Francs. Therefore, by the express terms of the said award, there is no right in ONGC to claim any interest on these amounts and this claim for interest was rightly negatived.
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