No Appeal Or Revision Against Delay Condonation In Filing Application U/S 34 For Setting Aside Arbitral Award: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has held that no appeal or revision would lie against an order allowing an application for condonation of delay accompanying an application filed under section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act for setting aside arbitral award.

A bench of Justice Javed Iqbal Wani said the legislature by using expression an appeal shall lie from the orders provided therein "and from no others" in Section 37 (Appealable orders) has taken away the right to appeal against all orders except specified in Section 37 (1) and (2).

It also referred to Section 5 of the Act which circumscribes the extent of judicial intervention to the extent as provided in the Act itself. Thus Court held if there is no possibility of further appeal under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, a party cannot seek any other remedy apart from the one provided by the Act.

"A conjoint reading of Section 37 read with Section 5 of the Act would seem to indicate that with respect to the matters where there does not exist any further right of appeal under the Act, a party will not be allowed to invoke a remedy other than one provided under the Act and to defeat the object of minimizing judicial intervention either at pre-award stage or post award stage."

The bench was hearing an appeal under Section 37 for setting aside the order of Additional District Judge which allowed delay condonation application filed along with Section 34 application.

Addressing the issue of maintainability, the appellant contended that though the order under challenge is not provided to be an appealable order under Section 37 of the Act yet the same can be treated and converted either into a revision petition or else a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution.

Rejecting this contention, Justice Wani said when judicial intervention has been circumscribed by the Act itself, the Courts cannot interfere at every stage. It observed that the Act is a special legislation governing the disputes arising out of arbitration proceedings and the legislature in its wisdom has not provided any appeal or revision against an order allowing an application for condonation of delay.

Thus, the bench maintained that there is no reason to entertain the appeal and dismissed it as not maintainable.

Case Title: Mahant Subash Shah Vs Kabir Singh & Anr

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 153

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