Limitation under Section 34 cannot be extended cumulatively by pandemic relief and insolvency moratorium

A Section 34 challenge under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act was held time-barred because it was filed long after receipt of the award and beyond the statutory outer limit of three months plus thirty days. The Supreme Court's pandemic-related extension could operate only within the period it allowed and could not be deferred for later use after expiry. The CIRP moratorium under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code excluded time only for the period it actually ran, but it could not revive a limitation period already exhausted by the pandemic relaxation. The challenge was therefore barred by limitation and dismissal as time-barred was justified.

---

---

Issues: Whether the application under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 was barred by limitation, and whether the petitioner could combine the benefit of the Supreme Court's pandemic-related extension of limitation with the exclusion of time during the corporate insolvency moratorium.

Analysis: The limitation under Section 34(3) is three months from receipt of the award, with a further discretionary period of thirty days, but not thereafter. On the dates admitted, the award was received on 30 November 2019 and the challenge was filed on 16 November 2023. The pandemic extension granted by the Supreme Court was available only up to ninety days from 1 March 2022, and could not be deferred to a later point of choice after the expiry of that period. The moratorium during the CIRP under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code excluded time only for the period when it actually operated, but it could not be used to revive a limitation period that had already exhausted the Supreme Court's pandemic relaxation. The petitioner could not claim both sets of protection cumulatively to extend time beyond the permissible limit.

Conclusion: The application under Section 34 was barred by limitation and the dismissal of the petition as time-barred was justified.

Ratio Decidendi: A party cannot successively or cumulatively invoke a pandemic-related extension of limitation and a later insolvency moratorium to enlarge a time-barred challenge beyond the statutory outer limit under Section 34(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

---