In a recent decision by the Bombay High Court, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) was told to pay Inspira IT Products Pvt. Ltd. a sum of Rs. 96,20,515 along with interest and costs. This decision came after a disagreement over the supply of servers and monitors that went unresolved for years.
Back in June 2013, TCS placed orders with Inspira for IT equipment, including servers and monitors, to complete a contract with the Department of Posts, India. However, delivering these items quickly became a big issue.
The equipment was supposed to arrive by July 20, 2013. However, Inspira didn't meet this deadline. On October 21, 2013, TCS asked for some servers to be sent to different places, including Mumbai and Chennai. Inspira, saying there were problems with billing for parts of the order separately, refused to deliver only part of the order.
"Billing for parts of the order separately is not possible in the edge Servers." - Inspira's response to TCS
The disagreement got worse, leading to arbitration. On March 30, 2023, an arbitrator decided that TCS owed Inspira Rs. 96,20,515 after taking away certain amounts for services not provided. TCS challenged this decision, but the court agreed with the arbitrator's decision.
Judge Sandeep V. Marne, who was in charge of the case, noted that TCS never officially ended the contract and kept showing interest in getting the servers delivered. Despite TCS's claims that the contract ended naturally, the judge found that TCS's actions showed otherwise.
Inspira eventually sold the servers to another company, Comprint Computers, in February 2016, reducing some of the losses. The court found that Inspira took the right steps to cut down on losses, despite TCS's objections.
Judge Marne decided that TCS had to pay the difference between the order's value and the amount Inspira got from selling the servers. The court dismissed both parties' petitions challenging the arbitration decision, agreeing with the arbitrator's decision.
