JUDGMENT

V. Kameswar Rao, J.

I.A. 11689/2022

1. By this order, I shall decide the aforesaid application which has been filed by the petitioner/applicant seeking condonation of delay in filing a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (`Act of 1996' for short) for quashing and setting aside the arbitral award dated February 04, 2022.

2. The Arbitrator had sent a soft copy of the impugned award dated February 04, 2022 to the applicant/petitioner by email and the hard copy thereof on February 14, 2022.

3. According to the applicant, the petition under Section 34 of the Act of 1996, is within limitation as the Supreme Court in Suo Moto Writ Petition No. 3/2020, directed that the period from March 15, 2020 till February 28, 2022, shall stand excluded for the purpose of limitation in all proceedings and that the period of limitation would start from March 1, 2022.

4. It is the case of the applicant that the statutory period of three months for challenging the impugned award had started from March 1, 2022 and expired on May 31, 2022, and the additional condonable period of 30 days for challenging the impugned award had expired on June 30, 2022.

5. It is