S. 14 Limitation Act Applicable To Proceedings Under Arbitration & Conciliation Act : Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has held that Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is applicable to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.Section 14 of the Limitation Act provides for the exclusion of the time spent in pursuing bona fide proceedings in a wrong forum from the computation of the period of limitation.A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra observed that it...
The Supreme Court has held that Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is applicable to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
Section 14 of the Limitation Act provides for the exclusion of the time spent in pursuing bona fide proceedings in a wrong forum from the computation of the period of limitation.
A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra observed that it was necessary to interpret the provisions of the Limitation Act liberally as there is only a limited window to challenge an arbitral award.
In this case, the appellant had wrongly filed an appeal before the High Court against the arbitral award. The appellant later realised that the right remedy was to file the appeal under Section 34 of the Act before the District Court.
The District Court rejected the appeal on the ground of being time-barred. It refused to exclude the time spent before the High Court from the limitation period.
The Supreme Court held that the issue is covered by the judgment in Consolidated Engineering Enterprises vs. Principal Secretary, Irrigation Department 2008 (7) SCC 169
"When the substantive remedies under Sections 34 and/or 37 of the Arbitration Act are by their very nature limited in their scope due to statutory prescription, it is necessary to interpret the limitation provisions liberally, or else, even that limited window to challenge an arbitral award will be lost. The remedies under Sections 34 and 37 are precious. Courts of law will keep in mind the need to secure and protect such a remedy while calculating the period of limitation for invoking these jurisdictions," the Court observed.
Applying Section 14, the Court held that the appeal filed before the District Court was within the limitation period.
Case : Kirpal Singh Vs Government Of India
Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 970