M/S Surendra Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. v. The Executive Engineer
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT PORT BLAIR ] ...
AP/11/2022 M/S Surendra Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.
...
Petitioner Vs.
The Executive Engineer ...
Respondent Mr. Tapan Kumar Das ... for the Petitioner Mr. Anjili Nag ... for the respondent September 28, 2022 [AKB] Item No.47 This is an application under the provision of Section 29 A of the Arbitration and conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), inter alia, for extending the mandate of the Arbitrator for bringing the arbitration proceedings to a logical conclusion by publishing the award. The pleadings as appears from the petition were completed on 15th July, 2019 and as such the outer limit for passing the award under Section 29 A
(1) of the said Act was 12 months from the said date of completion of pleadings. However, due to diverse reasons and mostly for reschedulement of date by the respondent as also for the illness of the learned Arbitrator for having suffered from COVID 19, the arbitration proceedings could not be completed within the said one year period. It is noteworthy to state that due to pandemic the Hon'ble Supreme Court by orders passed from time to time have excluded the application of limitation up till 28th February, 2022 which takes into their ambit the time fixed under Section 29 (A) of the Said Act. The parties have agreed to the extension of the mandate of the learned Arbitrator by a period of six months from date through their respective advocates during the hearing.
Considering the overall situation the time to publish the award is extended by a period of six months from date. The learned Arbitrator should proceed without granting any unnecessary adjournment to the parties to bring the arbitration proceeding to a logical conclusion by making and publishing the award within the extended time period.
The application being AP/11/2022 is accordingly disposed of.
Since I have not called for affidavits the allegations contained in the application are deemed to have not been admitted by the respondent.
(Arindam Mukherjee, J.)