- (1.)Heard the parties.
(2.)This Civil Miscellaneous Petition has been filed by the petitioner with a prayer for readmission of Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 to its original file which was dismissed for default on 3/2/2022.
(3.)It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 was listed on 10/8/2020 and prayer for adjournment was sought for by the petitioner-appellant. On 10/8/2020 this Court directed office to provide the copy of the memo of appeal on deposit of Rs.500.00 and granted adjournment subject to payment of cost of Rs.1,000.00 to the advocate of the respondent. Upon depositing Rs.500.00 as per the direction of this Court, the copy of memo of appeal was provided to the appellant by the Registry and it is submitted that when the order dtd. 10/8/2020 was passed, this Court was functioning in virtual mode due to COVID-19 Pandemic and the consequential lockdown. It is then submitted that because of the lockdown, the petitioner could not immediately make the payment of cost for the adjournment amounting to Rs.1,000.00. It is then submitted that non-payment of cost of Rs.1,000.00 to the advocate for the respondent was not deliberate and in the meanwhile on the last date of listing of this case i.e. on 2/12/2022, the said cost of Rs.1,000.00 has already been paid by the petitioner to the learned counsel for the respondent and the learned counsel for the respondent has received the said amount as is evident from the order dtd. 2/12/2022. It is next submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that on 3/2/2022 when Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 was listed then the name of the counsel for the appellant to whom the appeal was assigned i.e. Mr. Devesh Krishna was not appearing in the cause-list. Therefore, Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 could not be marked when the matter was called out and nobody appeared before this Court when the said Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 was called out and consequently the appeal was dismissed for default by this Court. Learned counsel for the petitioner tenders unconditional apology for non-appearance when the matter was called out for hearing by this Court as the same was not deliberate and took place only on account of unavoidable circumstances which were beyond the control of the advocate of the appellant namely Mr. Devesh Krishna. It is then submitted that the appellant had no knowledge about the dismissal of the said Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 and the appellant could come to know about the same from the District Court, Ranchi on 12/5/2022 where Arbitration Execution Case is pending and after necessary enquiry and informing its advocate, immediately this petition for readmission of the said Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 to its original file, has been filed. It is then submitted that the petitioner-appellant has very good grounds to agitate in the said Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 and unless the same is restored to its original file, the petitioner will be put to irreparable loss and injury and the appellant/petitioner being the Department of Information Technology of the State of Jharkhand will have to pay huge amount of public money to the respondent/opposite party, which the respondent/opposite party is not entitled to receive. Hence, it is submitted that the Arbitration Appeal No.06 of 2009 be readmitted to its original file.