Point of Law: Arbitral Award – Limitation – S. 34(3) specifically states that an application for setting aside may not be made after three months have lapsed from date of which party making an application had received arbitral award or, if a request has been made under S. 33 of Act of 1996, from date of which request has been disposed of by arbitral tribunal.

JUDGMENT :

Jaspreet Singh, J.

1. The appellant, National Highway Authority of India has preferred the instant appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act of 1996") against the judgment dated 14.05.2019 passed by the District Judge, Pratapgarh in Case M.N.R. No.127 of 2018, whereby the application of the appellant purportedly under Section 34(3) of the Act of 1996 seeking condonation of delay in filing the petition under Section 34(1) of the Act of 1996 has been rejected.

2. Heard Shri Prashant Chandra, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Ms. Samidha, learned counsel for the appellant and Shri G.C. Sinha, learned counsel for the respondent No.1 as well as Ms. Anita Tiwari, learned counsel for the respondents No.2 to 9.

A. FACTUAL MATRIX

In order to appreciate the controversy involved in this appeal, the facts necessary for adjudication are being noted hereinafter.

3. A notification was issued for acquisition of land for the purposes of widening of National Highway 55 on the stretch of land 134.700 km. to 263.000 km., Sultanpur-Varansi Section. The land in question, under acquisition, fell in Village Sonpuri, Paragna & Tehsil Patti, District Pratapgarh. The said notification was issued under the National Highways Act, 1956 (for short, "the Act of 1956").

4. A further notification under Section 3-A(1) was issued on 07.09.2012, which was followed by publication of notice in the daily newspaper. The subsequent notification under Section 3-D(1) was issued on 29.07.2013 and thereafter considering the objections received from the land-owners/persons interested, the Competent Authority passed an award dated 18.09.2015 under Section 3(G) of the Act of 1956 by which compensation was determined for the land acquired for widening of National Highway 56 in Sultanpur-Varansi Section.

5. The respondents herein, who were the land-owners had filed their objections against the award made by the Competent Authority, the same was registered as Case No.1 (Ram Niranjan and others vs. Union of India) and the same was decided by the Arbitrator by means of its award dated 03.03.2017.

6. The appellant, who was the respondent before the Arbitrator on 28.04.2017 made an application before the Arbitrator purportedly under Section 33 of the Act of 1996 on the premise that the award dated 03.03.2017 was ex-parte, hence, requested a fresh award be passed after considering the case as well as submissions of the appellant herein.

7. On the aforesaid application moved by the appellant, the Arbitrator issued notices to the land-owners, who filed their objections on 25.05.2017. The appellant submitted its reply thereof on 09.06.2017 and after hearing the parties, the Arbitrator by means of his order dated 28.07.2017 rejected the application filed by the appellant and the award dated 03.03.2017 was maintained.

8. The appellant being aggrieved against the award dated 03.03.2017 and the order dated 28.07.2017, sought permission from its Department to assail the award and finding that it did not have a signed copy of the order dated 28.07.2017, it made an application to the Arbitrator, who provided a signed copy of the order dated 28.07.2017 on 28.11.2017 and soon thereafter on 02.12.2017, the petition under Section 34 of the Act of 1996 along with an application under Section 34(3) of the Act of 1996 was preferred before the District Judge, Pratapgarh which was registered as M.N.R. No.127 of 2018.

9. The land-owners filed their objections which was considered by the District Judge, Pratapgarh and by means of the impugned order dated 14.05.2019 the said application under Section 34(3) of the Act of 1996 was rejected. Consequently, the petition under Section 34 of the Act of 1996 also stood dismissed.

10. The District Judge, Pratapgarh considered the documents which were filed by the parties and came to the conclusion that since the appellant had acknowledged the receipt of the award dated 03.03.2017 and 28.07.2017 in i