Deepak Mehra And ORS. v. Sujoy Kumar Nag And ANR.

ORDER

OCD-9

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

COMMERCIAL DIVISION ORIGINAL SIDE AP-COM/840/2025 DEEPAK MEHRA AND ORS.

VS SUJOY KUMAR NAG AND ANR

BEFORE

HON'BLE JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH Date: November 24, 2025.

Appearance:- Syed Nurul Arefin, Adv.

Mr. R. Singh, Adv.

...for petitioner.

Ms. Chama Mookherji, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Anujit Mookherji, Adv.

Mr. Prithish Chandra, Adv.

Mr. Vinayak Chaturvedi, Adv.

...for respondent.

The Court:- The present application has been filed by the petitioner under Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seeking extension of time for conclusion of the arbitral proceedings and for publication of the arbitral award.

This Court, vide order dated 23.12.2021, appointed retired justice Ashim Kumar Banerjee as a sole arbitrator to adjudicate disputes between the parties. The respondent herein challenged the said order before the Hon'ble Supreme court in SLP(C) no. 2472 of 2022. The said petition was dismissed vide order dated 03.11.2023.

It is the further contention of the petitioner that the mandate of the said arbitral tribunal expired on 05.01.2023. Since the respondent did not consent

to the extension of the mandate of the arbitral tribunal, the petitioner preferred AP (COM) No. 33/2023. This Court vide order dated 17.01.2024 appointed Mr. Bhaskar Bhattacharya, former Chief Justice of Gujrat High Court as the sole arbitrator in the said arbitration proceedings. The pleadings before the arbitrator were concluded on 08.06.2024. With the consent of the parties, the mandate of the tribunal was earlier extended for a further period of six months till 08.11.2025. Learned counsel for the parties submit that presently the proceedings are at the stage of cross examination of the claimant's second witness. Learned counsel for the respondent states that he has no objection to the present petition.

Upon consideration of the submissions and the materials placed on record, this Court is satisfied that there has been no undue or unwarranted delay on part of the arbitral tribunal in conducting the proceedings. Accordingly, the mandate of the arbitral tribunal is hereby extended for a further period of one year from today. The learned sole arbitrator is requested to ensure that the arbitral proceedings are concluded and the award is published within the extended time period.

With the aforesaid observation, the present petition stands disposed of. (GAURANG KANTH, J.) R. D. Barua