Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J. - (1.) Leave granted. The High Court by its impugned order dated 22 August 2016, allowed a post-award application under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ('the Act'). As a result, the appellant was called upon to release the amount covered by the arbitral award along with interest subject to the respondent furnishing a Bank Guarantee equal to the awarded amount for a period of one year.
(2.) The grievance of the appellant is that the order of the High Court dated 22 August 2016 was passed even though the period of limitation for challenging the award under Section 34 was still to expire. The award of the arbitral tribunal was made on 22 April 2016. Applications under Section 33 were disposed of on 04 June 2016. Hence according to the appellant, the period of limitation for filing the petition under Section 34 of the Act would have expired on 03 September 2016.
(3.) It has been urged on behalf of the appellant that the application under Section 9, which was filed on 13 June, 2016 within the period of limitation prescribed for challenging the award ought not to have been entertained and, in any event, such an order could not have been passed by the High Court within the parameters of Section 9 of the Act.;