Srei Equipment Finance Limited v. Sudesh Management Services Pvt Ltd And ORS

OCD-36 ORDER SHEET

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

(Commercial Division) ORIGINAL SIDE AP-COM/358/2026 SREI EQUIPMENT FINANCE LIMITED VS SUDESH MANAGEMENT SERVICES PVT LTD AND ORS

BEFORE:

The Hon'ble JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH Date : 18th May, 2026.

Appearance Mr. Swatarup Banerjee, Adv.

Mr. Rajib Mullick, Adv.

Mr. Sariful Haque, Adv.

Ms. Sonia Mukherjee, Adv.

...for the petitioner Mr. Arif Ali, Adv.

Mr. S. Das, Adv.

Mr. S. Bhattacharjee, Adv.

..for the respondent no.1 The Court: The petitioner has filed the present petition 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 petitioner submits that this Court vide order dated 26.04.2023 had appointed a sole Arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties. The pleadings were completed on 15.09.2023. With the consent of the parties the mandate of the arbitral tribunal was extended by six month till 28.02.2025. Subsequently, this Court vide order dated 01.05.2025 further extended the mandate by one year. The matter is presently at the stage of cross-examination of the claimant's witness. Learned Counsel for the respondents states that he has no objection to the extension of the mandate of the Arbitral Tribunal.

Upon consideration of the submissions of both 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 advanced stage of the proceedings and in the interest of justice, the mandate of the arbitral tribunal is extended further for a period of eight 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 petition stands disposed of.

(GAURANG KANTH, J.) S. Mandi