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Judgment
Arijit Banerjee, J.—The application u/s 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, was dismissed on the ground of "principal Civil Court". Moreover, the petition was delayed by 37 days. The learned Counsel appearing for the respondent would also take a plea, the appellant after accepting the awarded sum, could not have filed the said application. The learned Judge dismissed the application on the ground of lack of jurisdiction as it was not the "principal Civil Court" within the meaning of section 2(1)(e) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Hence, this appeal. We have heard the parties at length. The award in Misc. Case No. 79 of 1997 was sent on remand by the Civil Judge, 8th Court at Alipore. Since, the Tribunal published the award in terms of a mandate of the said Court, the said Court would be the appropriate Court u/s 42 of the 1996 Act. The definition of "Court" in section 2(1)(e) would have no application.
u/s 34(3) an application for setting aside would have to be made within three months and if the Court is satisfied about the delay beyond three months on sufficient cause being shown, another 30 days period could be allowed, meaning thereby, the Court would be incompetent to condone the delay beyond 120 days. The award was published on February 15, 2010 and the appellant received it on March 30, 2010, whereas the appellant filed the application on June 23, 2010, hence the application was within time.
The appeal succeeds and is allowed. The judgment and award impugned herein is set aside. The application made u/s 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation. Act, 1996 is restored and be heard on merits.
The third issue as to maintainability raised by the respondent as above, may be gone into by the learned judge while considering the application on merits. There would be no order as to costs.
Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the appellants, on priority basis.