Delhi High Court Rejects Delay Plea, Says Government Can’t Justify 112-Day Wait to File Appeal Under Section 37 of A&C Act.
The Delhi High Court noted that while government authorities must obtain necessary approvals before filing appeals, this does not mean that delays in seeking these approvals can be overlooked. The Court rejected an appeal from the Union of India (UoI) under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which contested an arbitral award in favor of Besco Limited (Wagon Division). The judges dismissed the request to excuse a 112-day delay in filing the appeal, stating that the Government had handled this commercial matter in a careless and negligent way.
A Division Bench consisting of Justice Rekha Palli and Justice Saurabh Banerjee remarked, “The appellant’s counsel argued that since the appellant is the Government, the appeal could not be filed without the necessary approvals, and thus the time taken to obtain these approvals should be considered for the delay request. However, we believe that while it is true that government appeals require prior approvals, this does not mean that delays in obtaining them can be excused.”
- CGSC Arunima Dwivedi represented the Appellant, while Advocate Anirudh Bakhru stood for the Respondent. The Government appealed against the High Court’s Single Bench decision, which had dismissed the UoI’s challenge to the arbitral award under Section 34 of the Act. The UoI claimed that delays and personal issues faced by its Counsel, including her father’s illness, justified the late filing of the appeal. The arbitral award required the UoI to make payments in a contract dispute with the Company. The High Court stated that the key factor in considering a delay application is not just the number of days delayed, but the adequacy of reasons for the delay.
The Court referenced the Supreme Court’s ruling in Government of Maharashtra v. M/s Borse Brothers Engineers & Contractors Pvt Ltd. (2021), which clarified that the Government cannot use a different standard for condoning delays. The Supreme Court noted that condoning delays under the Act is only allowed in exceptional cases. As a result, the Court concluded that the appellant’s explanation did not provide sufficient cause for the 112-day delay in filing the appeal, which should have been filed within 60 days as per Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. Therefore, the application for condoning the delay was dismissed, and the appeal along with related applications was also rejected. Thus, the High Court dismissed the Appeal.
Cause Title: Union Of India v. Besco Limited (Wagon Divison) (Neutral Citation: 2024:DHC:9219-DB)
Appearance:
Appellant: CGSC Arunima Dwivedi; Advocates Pinky Panwar and Aakash Pathak
Respondent: Advocate Anirudh Bakhru
