[Arbitration Act] Application U/S 34 Without Award Copy Or Vakalatnama Is Merely A 'Stack Of Papers' Filed To Save Limitation: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad has held that a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, filed without the award itself, would not be a valid filing. Justice Prasad stated that without the Award, the challenge would become meaningless because unless the award is perused by the court, it cannot adjudicate upon the appropriateness and correctness of the award. An application under Section 34 of the Act, filed without an award and admittedly without a vakalatmana, can only be a stack of papers filed only to save the limitation, he said. Brief Facts The petitioner filed a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 challenging an award by which the sole arbitrator has allowed the claim of the respondent and has dismissed the counterclaim of the petitioner. The petitioner used to place orders of crude oils from M/s Coral Products Pvt. Ltd. (“CPPL”) through a High Seas Sales Agreement. Later, CPPL amalgamated with the respondent and there was an outstanding payment amount of Rs. 2,09,18,103.91 which was stated to be due and payable to the respondent. Then, the respondent invoked arbitration, and the court appointed an arbitrator to adjudicate the dispute. The Arbitrator passed an award in favour of the respondent. Aggrieved by this, the petitioner filed a petition under Section 34 of the Act challenging the award passed by the sole arbitrator accompanied by an application for condonation of delay in filing the petition. Observation of the court: The court observed that the application under Section 34 of the Act cannot be filed after the period as prescribed under the Act. It is stated that the initial petition was filed on 26.07.2023 which is within the period prescribed under the Act. The petition has been admittedly filed without a copy of the Impugned Award. Additionally, the court held that a petition under Section 34 of the Act, filed without the award itself, would not be a valid filing. Without the Award, the challenge would become meaningless because, unless the award is perused by the court, it cannot adjudicate upon the appropriateness and correctness of the award. An application under Section 34 of the Act, filed without an award and admittedly without a vakalatmana, can only be a stack of papers filed only to save the limitation. The court relied on the judgment in ONGC v. Joint Venture of Sai Rama Engineering Enterprises (Sree) & Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited (Meil) (2023). Further, the court held that “This Court is not discussing the other defects which have been pointed out for it is of the opinion that without the Award, an application for setting aside an Award cannot be filed. It is not the case of the Petitioner that he did not have the copy of the Award which is being challenged by way of the present petition. There is no reason forthcoming as to why the copy of the Award was not filed. The filing on 26.07.2023 was therefore a non est filing.” Thereafter, the court dismissed the petition on the ground that it was barred by time. Case Title: KGF COTTONS PVT LTD v. HALDIRAM SNACKS PVT LTDCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 94 Case Number: O.M.P. (COMM) 426/2023, I.A. 19992/2023, I.A. 19993/2023, I.A. 19994/2023 Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. Dhruv Gupta, Liza Arora Anubhav Garg, Advocates Counsel for the Respondent: Mr. Varun Goswami, Ms. Arpita Mishra, Advocates Date of Judgment: 08.01.2025 Click Here To Read/Download The Order

[Arbitration Act] Application U/S 34 Without Award Copy Or Vakalatnama Is Merely A 'Stack Of Papers' Filed To Save Limitation: Delhi HC

Soumya Chakrabarti

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