Item No.1
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
AND
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE B. VIJAYSEN REDDY
C.M.A.No.779 of 2019
JUDGMENT: (Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Hima Kohli)
1. The present appeal has been filed under Section 37 of the
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short 'the Act') assailing
an order dated 24.07.2019 passed by the learned Arbitral Tribunal in a
dispute between the appellant/respondent and the respondent
No.1/claimant in the application moved by the appellant.
2. As per the learned counsel for the appellant, he had filed an application under Section 17(1)(i)(c) of the Act before the Arbitral Tribunal praying inter alia that an ocular inspection of the appellant's factory/plant situated at Visakhapatnam, be conduced for better appreciation of facts and for giving a finality to the adjudication of all the claims between the parties. The said application has been rejected by the Arbitral Tribunal with an observation that the same has been filed belatedly long after arguments were closed in the matter and orders were reserved for passing the award.
3. We have requested learned counsel for the appellant to indicate the date on which arguments were closed before the Arbitral Tribunal and the matter was reserved for the award to be passed. Learned counsel expresses his inability to furnish a specific date. He, however, concedes that by the date the application in question moved by the appellant was taken up by the Arbitral Tribunal, arguments had already been concluded and the matter was reserved for passing of an award.
4. We see no reason to interfere in the impugned order when, admittedly, arguments stand concluded in the dispute pending before the Arbitral Tribunal and the matter stands reserved for passing of the award. It is too late in the day for the appellant to move such an application.
5. The present appeal is, accordingly, dismissed in limine as meritless, along with the pending applications, if any.
_________________ HIMA KOHLI, CJ ______________________ B. VIJAYSEN REDDY, J 22.04.2021 Lur/vs