Vinod Kumar Gupta, J. - (1.) This is an application under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 for setting aside an arbitration award dated 16th July, 997, passed by the sole Arbitrator Shri S. Lakhan Pal. Since the application as been admittedly filed beyond the period of limitation prescribed under Section 34(3) of the Act, there is a prayer by the petitioner for condonation of delay in filing the application.
(2.) I propose to dispose of the petitioner's prayer for condonation of delay only, without at all going into the merits of the application for setting aside the award.
(3.) Admittedly the petitioner received the copy of the Award dated 16th July, 1997 on 18th July, 1997. Three months period of limitation is prescribed for filing the application for setting aside the Award and three months have to start from the date the party making such application receives the copy of the Award. The proviso to sub-section (3) of Section 34 of the Act does stipulate that the application can be entertained beyond the period of three months also, but not later than four months, if the applicant satisfies the Court that it was prevented by sufficient cause from making the application within the prescribed period of three months. Sub-section 3 of Section 34 of the Act reads thus : "(3) An application for setting aside may not be made after three months have elapsed from the date on which the party making that application had received the arbitral award or, if a request had been made under Section 33, from the date on which that request had been disposed of by the arbitral tribunal : Provided that if the Court is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from making the application within the said period of three months it may entertain the application within a further period of thirty days, but not thereafter." ;