M/s. United Construction Company vs State of Rajasthan and Others

Application under Article 226(3) of the Constitution of India has been listed for modification/vacation of the order dated 19.01.2007 whereby the court has directed that till filing of the objections, proceedings in Civil Misc. Case No. 144 of 2005 shall remain stayed. On hearing the Learned Counsel for the parties on the application, we find that the appeal itself can be disposed of. Learned Counsel for the parties have agreed for disposal of the appeal and is accordingly taken up for disposal.

Heard Learned Counsel for the parties.

In an Arbitration Proceeding, award was passed and filed in the trial court. Objections u/s 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 were filed by the opposite side along with an application u/s 5 of the Limitation Act for condoning the delay in filing the objections.

The learned trial court passed two orders, viz., 28.07.2006 and 02.09.2006. The order dated 28.07.2006 is not relevant for the purpose, though, this was also challenged by way of the writ petition. Vide order dated 02.09.2006, the trial court directed that the application u/s 5 of the Limitation Act shall be dealt with and decided at the time of considering the objections. Against these two orders, writ petition bearing No. 7956 of 2006 came to be filed, which has been dismissed by the learned Single Judge vide order dated 06.11.2006, under appeal.

Heard the Learned Counsel for the parties and perused the record. An application for condonation of delay has to be decided first before considering the objections. The question of considering objections will come if the application is decided in favour of the party who has filed the application. If the application is decided against the party, there remains nothing to be decided. In that event, the application has to be decided by the learned trial court first before taking up the objections for consideration. The order of the trial court is not in consonance with law and is set aside, directing the learned trial court to take up the application u/s 5 of the Limitation Act and decide it prior to hearing of the objections. The appeal is accordingly disposed of alongwith the application.