Hindustan Construction Company Limited vs IRCON International Limited

C .Hari Shankar, J

IA 3279/2021 (Section 151 CPC for condonation of delay)

For the reasons stated in the application, delay is condoned.

The application stands disposed of.

O.M.P.(MISC.)(COMM.) 36/2021

This is a petition under Section 29A(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as “1996 Actâ€), seeking extension

of the mandate of the learned Arbitral Tribunal to adjudicate on the disputes between the parties. The mandate expired on 4th February, 2021.

Mr. Wadhwa, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner, draws my attention to the email dated 18th January, 2021, from the learned Presiding

Arbitrator, which reads thus:

“From: Badar Ahmed

Sent: 18 January 2021 12:18

To: NAIK Gurudas /CONTRACTS & CLAIMS/H.O. ; dnegi@jsalaw com; Mirza,

Gauhar; Pragya Chauhan ; KUMAR Rakesh /CONTRACTS&CLAIMS/H.O.

; Sidharth Sethi ; Harsh Khare ; Mukesh Kumar

; Kumar Ravi Shankar ;Karia,Tejas; Deep, Prakhar

; Gupta, Hirai ; Gupta, Manavendra

Cc: BP Khare ; SURESH KUMAR

Subject: Arbitration BETWEEN Hindustan Construction Company Limited AND IRCON International Ltd

Dear All,

The Hon'ble High Court had extended the time for making the award till 04.02.2021 by virtue of its order dated 06.11.2020. However, discussions

could not be concluded till after the first week of January 2021 as, Mr. Bhuvnesh Prakash Khare, a member of the Arbitral Tribunal was indisposed.

The discussions amongst the members of the Arbitral Tribunal have now been finally held through videoconferencing and the award is at the stage of

finalisation. In all likelihood the proceedings would be completed on or before 04.02.2021.

However, since the arbitrators are located in three different cities, the signing at three different locations and consequent postal communications would

also take some time. Accordingly, to be on the safe side, the parties may apply for extension of time till the end of February, 2021for making the

award.

Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed (retd)

Presiding Arbitratorâ€​

It appears, therefore, that the award is on the cusp of pronouncement.

Mr. Mukhopadhyay, learned Senior Counsel for the respondent, submits that he has no objection to extension of time as sought, but that the learned

Arbitral Tribunal may be directed to provide another opportunity of “refresher hearing†to his client, given the time that has lapsed since the

award was reserved.

Mr. Wadhwa points out that a request, to this effect, was made and was rejected by the learned Presiding Arbitrator on 7th December, 2020.

In view thereof, I am not inclined to accede to the request for the learned Arbitral Tribunal to give a “refresher hearing†to the respondent,

especially as the afore-extracted email from the Hon’ble Presiding Member of the learned Arbitral Tribunal seems to indicate that the award is

likely to be pronounced soon.

In view thereof, the mandate of the learned Arbitral Tribunal stands extended by a period of three months from today.

This petition stands disposed of.