Allahabad High Court
Padam Singh vs Shivalik Small Finance Bank Ltd ... on 11 May, 2023
Bench: Prakash Padia
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:101553
Court No. - 5
Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 4312 of 2023
Petitioner :- Padam Singh
Respondent :- Shivalik Small Finance Bank Ltd And Another
Counsel for Petitioner :- Nipun Singh,Sumit Suri
Counsel for Respondent :- Jitendra Kumar Mishra,Lok Nath Shukla
Hon'ble Prakash Padia,J.
1. Heard Shri Nipun Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Lok Nath Shukla, learned counsel for the respondent-Bank.
2. The present petition under Article 227 has been filed inter-alia with the following prayer:-
"i. Set aside the impugned orders dated 18.01.2023 and 09.03.2023 passed by the Arbitral Tribunal, Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, alleged Sole Arbitrator in Arbitration Case No.S-148/2022 (Shivalik Small Finance Bank Ltd. Vs. Manoj Kumar and others) (Annexure Nos.1 & 2 respectively to the petition);"
3. It is argued by learned counsel for the petitioner that the application/objection dated 12.10.2022 filed by the petitioner was wholly illegally rejected by the Arbitrator. It is argued that though the application was filed in terms of Section 13(2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 but by way of mistake of typographical error, the same has been mentioned as Section 14(2). It is further argued that in the case of P.K. Palansamy Vs. N. Arumugham and another reported in (2009) 9 SCC 173 it was held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that mentioning of a wrong provision or non-mentioning of a provision does not invalidate an order if the court and/or statutory authority had the requisite jurisdiction therefor. The paragraph 27 of the aforesaid judgment is reproduced hereinbelow:-
"27. Section 148 of the Code is a general provision and Section 149 thereof is special. The first application should have been filed in terms of Section 149 of the Code. Once the court granted time for payment of deficit court fee within the period specified therefor, it would have been possible to extend the same by the court in exercise of its power under Section 148 of the Code, Only because a wrong provision was mentioned by the appellant, the same, in our opinion, by itself would not be a ground to hold that the application was not maintainable or that the order passed thereon would be a nullity. It is a well-settled principle of law that mentioning of a wrong provision or non-mentioning of a provision does not invalidate an order if the court and/or statutory authority had the requisite jurisdiction therefor."
4. In response to the aforesaid, it is argued by Shri Lok Nath Shukla, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent-Bank that the application in question was filed by the petitioner before the Arbitrator Tribunal after the judgment was delivered, hence the entire exercise is the part of the petitioner to delay the proceedings.
5. Heard counsel for the parties and perused the record.
6. From perusal of the record, it transpires that an application was filed under Section 13(2) of the Act of 1996 but by way of typographical error it is mentioned as sub-section 2 of Section 14 of the Act, 1996. When the aforesaid error was pointed out by the petitioner before the Arbitrator Tribunal, the same was rejected. The claimant has objected the application filed by the Respondent and has asserted that such applications are merely dilatory tactics to prolong the proceedings and it was also alleged that the facts stated in application are false and incorrect.
7. In this view of the matter, the Court is of the opinion that the order passed by the Tribunal dated 18.01.2023 and 09.03.2023 is liable to be set aside and is hereby set aside. The Tribunal is directed to pass a fresh order treating the application filed by the petitioner under Section 13(2) of the Act, 1996, strictly in accordance with law most, expeditiously and preferably within a period two months.
8. Counsel for the parties are permitted to place the copy of this order before the court below within a period of three days.
Order Date :- 11.5.2023
Swati
