I.P. Mukerji, J.

1. AN application under section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter called "the Act") was filed by the petitioner challenging an award made and published by the arbitrator on 17th December 2009. According to the records, this application was filed on 26th August 2010. Prima facie, it appeared to this Court to be barred by limitation. Therefore, I did not admit it when it was moved on 14th September 2010. I asked the parties to file affidavits to ascertain whether the application was filed within time.

2. SUCH an exercise became necessary because of section 34 of the Act. It says that an application to set aside an award has to be made within three months from the date of its receipt by the party making the application. It can be made within a further period of 30 days on satisfying the Court that the applicant had sufficient cause for not making the application within that time, "but not thereafter". Now, it is well settled that once, the period of 30 days after the initial period of three months has expired, the Court has no power to condone any further delay under section 5 of the Limitation Act. The language of the section is such