Limitation for filing an arbitration award turns on who initiated the court filing, and late filing is time-barred.

The filing of an arbitration award was treated as governed by Article 119(a) of the Limitation Act, 1963 where the award was forwarded to court at the request of a party, not filed suo motu by the arbitrator. The court distinguished between filing by the arbitrator on his own and filing at a party's instance, and held that the latter attracted the prescribed limitation period under Article 119(a). Because the award was filed after that period, the filing was time-barred and the objections under sections 30 and 33 of the Arbitration Act, 1940 were allowed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the filing of the arbitration award was barred by limitation when the award was forwarded to the court by the arbitrator at the request of one party to the arbitration agreement.

Analysis: The objections under sections 30 and 33 of the Arbitration Act, 1940 turned on the applicable limitation rule. The court distinguished between a case where the arbitrator files the award suo motu and a case where the award is filed at the instance of a party to the agreement. On the facts, the covering letter and record showed that the award was sent to the court at the request of the petitioner, not of the arbitrator on his own. In that situation, Article 119(a) of the Limitation Act, 1963 applied. As the award was filed beyond the prescribed period, the filing could not be treated as within limitation.

Conclusion: The filing of the award was barred by limitation and the objections were allowed.

---