Supreme Court”) in the matter of
Government of Maharashtra v. M/s Borse Brothers Engineers & Contractors Pvt. Ltd. (“
Borse Brothers”) overturned one of its earlier verdict in the matter of
NV International V. State of Assam (“
NV International”).
1 The Supreme Court clarified that an aggrieved party must file an appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“
A&C Act”) within 60 days from date of order. The Supreme Court further held that a delay in filing appeals under Section 37 of the A&C Act can be condoned by the appellate court. However, such condonation must be granted only by way of exception and is permissible if the delay is ‘short’.
A Bench comprising of
Navin Sinha and
KM Joseph observed that an application under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act to set aside an award is covered by moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Section 34 proceeding is a proceeding against the corporate debtor in a court of law pertaining to a challenge to an arbitral award and would be covered just as an appellate proceeding in a decree from a suit would be covered, the bench headed by Justice RF Nariman observed in the judgment titled P Mohanraj & Ors. v. M/s Shah Brothers Ispat Ltd.
Supreme Court of India (File photo)
NEW DELHI: With high commercial value disputes getting regularly referred to arbitration in India, the Supreme Court has decided to sort out prevailing confusion over what is the limitation period for filing of appeal against arbitral award - 90 days or 120 days.
But, the attempt to clear the confusion saw parallel proceedings in the Supreme Court as two coordinate benches took up the matter and passed orders. The confusion over the limitation period for filing appeal against arbitral awards arose from judgements of the SC, one holding that it was 90 days while others stating that it was extendable to 120 days.
In a recent order passed in the matter of
Union of India v.
M/s Associated Construction Co.
1, the Hon ble
Supreme Court highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the period of
limitation applicable on appeals filed under Section 37 of the
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (
Arbitration
Act).
In the instant case, an arbitral award was challenged by the
Union of India (
Petitioner) under Section 34 of
the Arbitration Act. The High Court dismissed the objections of the
Petitioner in the application filed under Section 34 of the
Arbitration Act. The Petitioner then filed an appeal under Section
13 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (
Commercial Courts
Act) read with Section 37 of the Arbitration Act before
What would be the appropriate period of limitation applicable to appeals filed under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996? The Supreme Court said it would examine this issue which.