Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited v. HCL Infotech Limited
Court – Himachal Pradesh High Court
Citation – OMP (M) No. 55 of 2024 in CARBC No.13 of 2025
Date – 10.10.2025
The Hon’ble Himachal Pradesh High Court has held that bureaucratic delays and internal movement of files cannot be ground for condoning delay in challenging Arbitral Award.
The Court held,
“25. If the sequence of events as have been given in the application, rejoinder andsupplementary affidavit areseen in its entirety, this Court has nohesitation to conclude thatnoplausible explanation has beenrendered onrecordqua delay in filing the accompanying objectionsunder Section 34 oftheAct.
26. Leaving everything aside,application at hand along with objections has been filed by Chief Engineer, who otherwise also could have filed the application along with objections on account of his having signed the agreement at the behest of the applicant/objector with the non-applicant/respondent and as such, there was otherwise no occasion, if any, for the applicant/objector to wait for the persons, who were on election duty and for subsequent approvals by Managing Director.
27. Examining facts of the present case in light of provisions of Section 34 of the Act and the law laid down on the subject, this Court has no hesitation to conclude that applicant/objector has not been able to furnish any cause much less sufficient cause for condoning the delay in filing the objections against the award beyond the prescribed period of three months. Explanation otherwise attempted to be placed on record cannot be said to be ‘sufficient explanation’, enabling this Court to condone the delay in filing objections.”
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