Yasmin Khalique And ORS. v. Mukhtar Alam

OD-5 ORDER SHEET

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction ORIGINAL SIDE AP/71/2026 YASMIN KHALIQUE AND ORS.

VS MUKHTAR ALAM

BEFORE:

The Hon'ble JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH Date : 28th April, 2026.

Appearance:

Mr. Sohail Haque, Adv.

Mr. M. I. A. Lodhi, Adv.

...for the petitioners Mr. Tarique Quasimuddin, Adv.

Mr. Ishaan Saha, Adv.

Mrs. Zainab Tahur, Adv.

...for the respondent The Court: The petitioner has filed the present application under Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking extension of the mandate of the arbitral tribunal for conclusion of the arbitral proceedings and publication of the arbitral award. Learned Counsel for the petitioners submits that this Court vide order dated 26.11.2018 followed by corrected order dated 04.12.2018 had appointed a sole Arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties. Since the issue pertains to dissolution of partnership, applications were filed by the parties before the arbitral tribunal against each other and there were various rounds of challenge were raised. The arbitral tribunal passed an interim award dated 12.11.2020. The said award was challenged before this Court. In the meanwhile, the learned sole Arbitrator has passed away and

this Court vide order dated 12.12.2023 had appointed the present Arbitrator.

Learned Counsel for the petitioners states that due to complexity of the issues in hand and also on account of repeated challenges made by the parties, the mandate of the arbitral tribunal has been extended from time to time and the said time period is expiring on 03.05.2026. He further states that the matter is presently at the stage of final arguments. Learned Counsel for the respondent states that he has no objection to the extension of the mandate of the arbitral tribunal. Upon consideration of the submissions of the parties and the materials placed on record, this Court is satisfied that there has been no undue and unwarranted delay on the part of the learned sole Arbitrator in concluding the proceedings.

Having regard to the stage of the proceedings and in the interest of justice, the mandate of the arbitral tribunal is extended further for a period of six months from today.

The learned sole Arbitrator is requested to make all reasonable endeavours to conclude the arbitral proceedings and publish the arbitral award within the extended time period.

With the aforesaid observations, the present application stands disposed of.

(GAURANG KANTH, J.) S. A.

AR (CR)