Larsen And Toubro Limited v. Emta Coal Limited

OCD-1 ORDER SHEET

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

ORIGINAL SIDE (Commercial Division) AP-COM/817/2025 LARSEN AND TOUBRO LIMITED VS EMTA COAL LIMITED

BEFORE:

The Hon'ble JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH Date : 14th November, 2025.

Appearance Ms. Shreya Singh, Adv.

...for the petitioner Mr. Tanay Agarwal, Adv.

Priyansha Agarwal, Adv.

...for the respondent The Court: This is an application filed by the petitioner under Section 29-A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seeking extension of time period for conclusion of the arbitral proceedings and publication of the arbitral award.

Learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that this Court vide order dated 30.07.2021 appointed the arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties. The pleadings were concluded on 15.11.2022. With the consent of both the parties, the mandate of the arbitral tribunal was initially extended till 13.05.2024. Thereafter, this Court vide orders dated 22.05.2024 and 10.12.2024 further extended the mandate of the tribunal for six months and one year respectively, thereby extending the tenure of the tribunal till 20.11.2025. Learned Counsel for the petitioner further submits

that the final arguments on behalf of the respondents are presently in progress and, thereafter, the petitioner intends to make its rejoinder submissions in response to the contentions advanced by the respondents. In these circumstances, the petitioner prays for a further extension of the mandate of the arbitral tribunal for a period of six months. Learned Counsel for the respondent states that he has no objection to the present petition for extension of the mandate of the arbitral tribunal. This Court has heard the submissions of both the parties and carefully perused the documents placed on record. It appears from the record that the arbitral tribunal proceeding commenced on 30.07.2021 and continued for nearly four years. During this period, the mandate of the tribunal has already been extended twice by this Court. The arbitration tribunal has conducted more than 53 sittings and has recorded extensive evidence from both sides. The matter is presently at the stage of final arguments.

Upon consideration, this Court is satisfied that there has been no undue and unwarranted delay on the part of the learned sole arbitrator for conducting the proceedings.

Considering the present stage of the proceeding and in the interest of justice, this Court deems it appropriate to grant a further extension of six months from today to enable the arbitral tribunal to conclude the proceedings and publish the arbitral award.

The Arbitral Tribunal is, accordingly, requested to make all endeavours to conclude the proceedings and publish the arbitral award within the extended time period.

With the aforesaid observation, the present arbitration petition is disposed of.

(GAURANG KANTH, J.) R.Bhar