1. THE petitioner No. 1, the Union of India, acting through the General Manager, Eastern Railway, under the Ministry of Railways, has filed this application for condonation of delay under sub-section (3) of section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") praying condonation of delay so that the Award dated November 14, 2007, passed by the Sole Arbitrator, could be challenged by it under section 34 of the Act.

2. IT would appear from the averments made in the application that the Award dated November 14, 2007 was served by the Sole Arbitrator upon the respondent and the Award was received by the office of the petitioners on November 15, 2007 and the petitioners decided to file the application for setting aside the Award passed by the Sole Arbitrator on November 14, 2007. The learned Advocate was contacted to draw the setting aside application and to file the same within the statutory period of limitation.

But the application was not filed within 90 days and in fact the application for setting aside the Award with the application for condonation of delay was filed after a period of 108 days delay due to unavoidable circumstances