Section 34(4) limits remand after award setting aside; no suo motu reference to arbitral tribunal without party request.

Section 34(4) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act permits adjournment of a challenge to an award only on a party's request and only where curative action by the arbitral tribunal may remove grounds for setting aside. It does not create a general power to remand after the award has been set aside, and the court cannot invoke it on its own motion once it has become functus officio. Because no written request was made before the award was set aside, the suo motu remittal direction was held to be without jurisdiction and unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether, after setting aside an arbitral award, the Court can suo motu remit the matter to the arbitral tribunal under Section 34(4) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 without any written request by a party.

Analysis: Section 34(4) permits the Court, on receipt of an application under Section 34(1), to adjourn the proceedings only where it is appropriate and only if requested by a party, so that the arbitral tribunal may resume proceedings or take curative action to remove the grounds for setting aside the award. The provision does not confer a general power of remand after the award has already been set aside. The limited discretion under the provision must be invoked before the Court becomes functus officio, and it cannot be exercised on the Court's own motion. In the present case, no written application or request was made before the award was set aside.

Conclusion: The Court held that the Division Bench had no jurisdiction to remit the matter to the arbitral tribunal for fresh reasons after setting aside the award, and the suo motu direction was unsustainable.

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