Filing requirements under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act must be strictly adhered to; failure to do so renders filings non est and unable to stop limitation periods from running.

JUDGMENT

Vibhu Bakhru, J. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (hereafter `ONGC') has filed the present appeal under Section 37(1)(c) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter `the A&C Act') impugning a judgement dated 01.10.2019 (hereafter `the impugned judgment') passed by the learned Single Judge. By the impugned judgement, the learned Single Judge dismissed the appellant's application [being IA No. 4451/2019 in O.M.P. (COMM) 97/2019] seeking a condonation of delay for 27 days in filing the application under Section 34 of the A&C Act to set aside an arbitral award dated 23.10.2018 (hereafter `the impugned award'). Consequently, the appellant's petition under Section 34 of the A&C Act has also been dismissed as barred by limitation.

Factual Context

2. On 13.06.2014, ONGC invited tenders for the works of "6 Pipeline Replacement Project (Assam Asset) on lumpsum turnkey basis" (hereafter `the Project'). Thereafter, by a Notification of Award (NoA) dated 10.04.2015, the contract was awarded to the respondent. Subsequently, on 28.09.2015, the parties entered into a contract (hereafter `the Contract').

3. In terms of clause 2.2.1 of the General Conditions of Contact (GCC), the Project was to be completed within a period of twenty-one months from the date of the NoA, that is, by 09.01.2017. In terms of clause 6.3.1.1 of the GCC, the stipulated date of mechanical completion of the Project was to be achieved within twenty months from the date of the NoA, that is, by 09.12.2016. However, there were delays in execution of the Project.

4. ONGC imposed liquidated damages that were disputed by the respondent. Further disputes also arose between the parties. These disputes included disputes regarding the party responsible for the delay and non-payment of dues. The disputes were referred to arbitration in terms of the arbitration clause in the Contract.

5. The arbitral proceedings culminated with the Arbitral Tribunal delivering the impugned award. The Arbitral Tribunal found that ONGC was liable for the delay in completion of the contract and, inter alia, awarded a sum of Rs.48,86,83,209/- in favour of the respondent.

6. ONGC received a copy of the impugned award on 23.10.2018. The period of limitation, for filing an application under Section 34 of the A&C Act for setting aside the impugned award, is three months, as provided by Section 34(3) of the A&C Act. The said period expired on 23.01.2019. On the last date of the limitation - that is, on 23.01.2019 - the appellant filed an application under Section 34 of the A&C Act purportedly to assail the impugned award. However, the file that was uploaded electronically on the filing portal did not relate to the present matter.

7. The aforesaid filing was marked defective and was returned by the Registry of this Court on 29.01.2019. The appellant claims that it found that an incorrect CD of a different matter captioned `Reliance Infrastructure v Aravali Power Co. Pvt. Ltd.' had been uploaded. The appellant states that it contacted the agency that handles the filing and scanning of their documents. The said agency, again, took two to three days to complete the same.

8. The appellant states that while the application was sent for scanning, another matter captioned, `Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited vs. Joint Venture of Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited and M/s A Plus Project & Tech (P.) Limited' was filed. Erroneously, the said filing was done in the present matter. The sa