KARACHI, Jan 30: Justice Mushir Alam of the Sindh High Court upheld on Wednesday an arbitration award requiring a duty-free shop concern to pay $6 million to the Civil Aviation Authority.

The dispute between the CAA and Arienta (Pakistan) Limited, which operated a duty-free shop (DFS) at the Karachi airport, arose when a 1992 contract signed by them expired in November 2000.

Alleging that the CAA had made misrepresentations at the time of signing of the contract, it declined to surrender the premises or facilities and continued to operate the shop to recover its losses.

The matter was referred to Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, a former Supreme Court judge, for arbitration. The ex- judge gave a 60-million-dollar award in favour of the CAA on account of licence fee and utility and other charges payable by the DFS.

When the award was referred to the high court for making it a rule of the court, Arienta filed objections, which were contested by the CAA. Overruling the objections, Justice Alam decreed the award and made it a rule of the court. However, Arienta was given 15 days to challenge his decision in appeal.