Full Text
JUDGMENT
SURPREET SINGH SURI ..... Petitioner
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioner : Mr. Anurag Ojha & Mr. Gautam Barnwal, Adv.
For the Respondent : Mr Sudipto Sarkar, Sr. Adv. With Mr. Saurav Agrawal, Mr. Savrajay Nanda, Mr. Vinay Kumar Misra, Ms. Vani Sharma & Mr. Ribhu Garg Advs.
1. The petitioner has filed the present petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter ‘the A&C Act’) impugning an arbitral award dated 02.07.2019 rendered by an Arbitral Tribunal comprising of three arbitrators (hereafter ‘the Arbitral Tribunal’).
2. The petitioner had claimed that the impugned award dated 02.07.2019 was not served upon him and he became aware of the impugned award on 30.07.2019 when the Horizon Group filed a petition under Section 9 of the A&C Act [being OMP (I) (COMM) 217/2019].
3. Thereafter, on 22.08.2019, the petitioner filed an application before the learned Arbitral Tribunal seeking correction of the award. In addition to the petitioner, respondent nos. 34, 35, and 37 had also filed applications under Section 33 of the A&C Act. The Arbitral Tribunal considered the applications filed under Section 33 of the A&C Act and by a common order dated 20.11.2019, it disposed of the petitioner’s application as being barred by limitation. The Arbitral Tribunal also held that the impugned award was duly served upon all the concerned parties.
4. A Coordinate Bench of this Court in Nirmal Singh v. Horizon Crest India Real Estate & Ors.: OMP (COMM) 434/2020, decided on 24.07.2020, had dismissed the petition filed under Section 34 of the A&C Act by Mr. Nirmal Singh (respondent no. 35 before the Arbitral Tribunal) challenging the impugned award. The Court, inter alia, rejected the contention that the period of three months was required to be computed from the date of the order of the Arbitral Tribunal (20.11.2019) rejecting Mr. Nirmal Singh’s application under Section 33 of the A&C Act. The Court was of the view that Mr. Nirmal Singh’s application could not be construed as an application under Section 33 of the A&C Act.
5. Concededly, the controversy raised in the present petition is also covered by the decision of this Court in Vidhur Bharadwaj v. Horizon Crest India Real Estate and Ors.: OMP (COMM) 436/2020. This Court has dismissed the said petition filed under Section 34 of the A&C Act challenging the impugned award on the ground of limitation.
6. In view of the decision of the Coordinate Bench of this Court in Nirmal Singh v. Horizon Crest India Real Estate & Ors. (supra) and by this Court in Vidhur Bharadwaj v. Horizon Crest India Real Estate and Ors. (supra), the present petition is also, accordingly, dismissed. All pending applications are also disposed of.
VIBHU BAKHRU, J NOVEMBER 16, 2022 ‘gsr’