Mandatory limitation under Section 34 bars late arbitral challenges; fraud plea cannot extend the statutory deadline.

The Calcutta HC held that the outer limit in Section 34(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is mandatory: an application to set aside an arbitral award must be filed within three months, with only a further thirty days on sufficient cause shown, and no delay beyond that can be condoned under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963. The plea of fraud did not assist because it was not properly pleaded before the arbitrator or the court below, and no particulars or proof were available to invoke any exclusionary principle. The challenge was therefore barred by limitation.

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Issues: Whether the delay of 108 days in filing the application under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 could be condoned, and whether the plea of fraud could justify extension of the limitation period.

Analysis: Section 34(3) permits an application to set aside an arbitral award only within three months, with a further period of thirty days if sufficient cause is shown, but not thereafter. The phrase "but not thereafter" was treated as an express exclusion of any wider power to condone delay, and the court's power could not be enlarged by Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963. The earlier and subsequent Supreme Court authorities on Sections 29(2), 14 and 43 of the Limitation Act, 1963 and the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 did not alter that position. Although fraud was sought to be invoked, no such plea had been properly pleaded before the arbitrator or the court below, and no particulars or proof were available to bring the case within any exclusionary principle.

Conclusion: The delay beyond the outer limit under Section 34(3) could not be condoned, and the plea of fraud could not be entertained to bypass the statutory bar.

Ratio Decidendi: The outer limit prescribed in Section 34(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is mandatory and excludes any power to entertain a challenge beyond the further period of thirty days.

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