Sheila Sen And Another v. Fort Projects Private Limited And Others

OCD-2 ORDER SHEET

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction ORIGINAL SIDE (Commercial Division) AP-COM/978/2025 SHEILA SEN AND ANOTHER VS FORT PROJECTS PRIVATE LIMITED AND OTHERS

BEFORE:

The Hon'ble JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH Date : 13th January, 2026.

Appearance Mr. Jishnu Chowdhury, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Soumyadeb Sinha, Adv.

Ms. Suranjana Chatterjee, Adv.

...for the petitioner Mr. Rachit Lakhmani, Adv.

Mr. Shubham Gupta, Adv.

Ms. Pooja Sah, Adv.

Mr. Raunak Shaw, Adv.

Mr. Rajsekhar Bal Bakshi, Adv.

Mr. Md. Ayyan, Adv.

..for the respondents The Court: The petitioners have filed the present application under Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking extension of the mandate of the arbitral tribunal to conclude the arbitral proceedings and publish the arbitral award.

Mr. Jishnu Chowdhury, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners state that this Court vide order dated 16.11.2023, appointed a sole arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties. The statement of defence was filed on 22.05.2024 and the counterclaim was filed on 13.01.2025. The last sitting of the arbitral tribunal was held on 21.05.2025 upon which the final arguments were concluded and the matter was reserved for publication of the award.

It is further submitted that subsequent to the conclusion of the arguments, the respondents were admitted to liquidation with effect from 20.06.2025, which resulted in an impediment to the continuation and conclusion of the arbitral proceedings. Owing to the pendency of the liquidation proceedings, the parties were unable to mutually extend the mandate of the arbitral tribunal.

Upon consideration of the materials placed on record, this Court is satisfied that there has been no undue or unwarranted delay on the part of the learned sole arbitrator in conducting 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 two months from today.

The learned sole arbitrator is requested to make all reasonable endeavours to publish the arbitral award within the extended time period. With the above observations, the present application stands disposed of.

Learned Counsel for the respondents is at liberty to file the Vakalatnama.

(GAURANG KANTH, J.) S. Mandi