Arbitral Award – Service – Delay of five months in collecting copy of the Award – Section 31(5) AA
On 16.10.2023 at 10.30 am, the virtual hearing was held for pronouncement of the Award. During hearing, the procedural order recording the proceedings and the minutes of the hearing was circulated to the parties. The minutes further mentioned that three sets of the Award were printed including two sets on non-judicial stamp paper of Rs.500/- given by each party. Third copy was printed on plain paper as the office copy. It was stated in the minutes that the Award was signed by the Arbitrator and pronounced via video conferencing attending by the representatives of both the parties.
The minutes recorded the direction to the parties to collect hard copy of the Award from the office of the Arbitral Tribunal through their authorised representative and that a scanned copy of the Award would be e-mailed to each party.
On the same day, the scanned copy of the Award and minutes of hearing held on 16.10.2023 were sent by email and email was copied to the Managing Director of the appellant. This was confirmed by the authorized signatory of the Appellant.
As the appellant had not received a signed copy of the Award for a long time, the Appellant approached the office of the Arbitrator on 9.3.2024.
On 21.5.2024, the appellant filed section 34 petition for setting-aside the Award dated 16.10.2023. It was dismissed for delay in filing the same.
HELD that the Award was pronounced in presence of the authorised representative of the appellant on 16.10.2023, it was recorded in the minutes of said hearing, signed copy of the Award was sent to the authorised representative of the appellant by email on 16.10.2023, it was acknowledged by email on the same day, For all these reasons, the delivery of the signed copy of the Award by the Arbitrator is valid compliance of Section 31(5) of the Act.
Whether the term “party” in Section 31(5) can only mean the party to the arbitration agreement and not its agent or its advocate.
By the Award dated 16.10.2023, the Arbitral Tribunal directed the appellant to make payment of Rs.25,98,58,132.05/- with interest to the Respondent.
Judgment dated 23.5.2025 of the Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi in FAO (OS) (COMM) 206/2024 of Kristal Vision Projects Private Limited Vs. Union of India
