IMPORTANT POINT
The court emphasized that delay in filing appeals under the Arbitration Act must be justified by sufficient cause, with negligence being insufficient for condonation.

JUDGMENT :

Rekha Palli, J.

1. The present appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’), seeks to assail the order dated 31.07.2023 passed by the learned Single Judge in OMP (COMM) No. 467/2019. Vide the impugned order, the learned Single Judge has rejected the application filed by the appellant under Section 34 of the Act to assail the Arbitral Award dated 02.05.2019 as rectified on 31.07.2019.

2. The appeal is accompanied by an application seeking condonation of 121 days delay in filing the appeal. At the outset, learned counsel for the appellant submits that though the application inadvertently mentions 121 days, the appeal is barred only by 112 days. In support of the application, she submits that the delay in filing of the appeal has occurred primarily because of the procedural delays involved in filing an appeal on behalf of the Union of India (UoI). Furthermore, the filing of the appeal was also delayed for about thirty days during which period she was attending to her ailing father. By placing reliance on an order dated 24.11.2023 passed by the Apex Court in an appeal arising out of SLP (C) No.12180/2023 titled M/s Jaitely Construction Co. v. Union of India, she submits that the Apex Court while condoning the delay of 244 days in preferring an appeal under Section 37 of the Act, has clarified that in exceptional cases the delay in filing an appeal under Section 37 can be condoned even beyond the stipulated period of limitation. She, therefore, prays that by taking into account the details furnished in paragraph no.2 of the application, the delay in filing the appeal be condoned.

3. On the other hand, Mr. Anirudh Bakhru, Advocate, appearing for the respondent opposes the application for condonation of delay by urging that, merely, because the delay in filing an appeal under section 37 of the Act can be condoned even beyond the period of limitation does not imply that the inordinate delay of 112 days can be condoned without sufficient cause being shown. He submits that even if the 30 days period during which the learned counsel for the appellant claims she was under a personal difficulty were to be ignored, the appeal would still be barred by 82 days for which there is no justifiable explanation. By drawing our attention to the list of dates set out in paragraph no.2 of the application, he submits that the very own admission by the appellant that the case file was handed over to the Government counsel for filing of an appeal only on 12.09.2023 i.e., 42 days after the passing of the impugned judgment in itself shows that the appellant has treated a commercial matter like the present in a most callous and negligent manner.

4. He contends that it is trite law that in a matter pertaining to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act as also those pertaining to the Commercial Courts Act, condonation of delay in filing an appeal can be granted by way of an exception and not by way of a rule. Furthermore, merely because the appellant is the UoI, it cannot claim that a lenient view should be adopted for considering its application for condonation of delay. In support of his plea, he places reliance on the decision of the Apex Court in Government of Maharastra v. M/s Borse Brothers Engineers & Contractors Pvt Ltd., 2021 Vol. 6 SCC 460. He, therefore, prays that the application be dismissed alongwith the appeal which is clearly barred by limitation.

5. Having considered the submissions of learned counsel for the parties and perused the record, we may begin by noting that the parties are ad idem that the delay in filing of the appeal is of 112 days. We may now proceed to note the relevant extracts of paragraph no.2 of the application wherein the appellant has sought to explain the sequence of events leading to the delay of 112 days in filing of the appeal. The same reads as under:-

“31.07.2023 The impugned judgment/ order passed by the Hon'ble Single Judge of this Hon'ble Court.

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