Manipur High Court
State Of Manipur; & Ors vs Ms The Simplex Infrastructures Ltd. ... on 15 December, 2025
Author: Ahanthem Bimol Singh
Bench: Ahanthem Bimol Singh
KABORAMB Digitally signed
AM by KABORAMBAM
SANDEEP SINGH
SANDEEP Date: 2025.12.17
SINGH 11:37:04 +05'30'
Sl. No. 10-13
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MANIPUR
AT IMPHAL
Arb. A. No. 1 of 2024
State of Manipur; & Ors.
Appellants
Vs.
MS The Simplex Infrastructures Ltd. Through its Director
Respondent
Clubbed with
MC (Arb. A.) No. 1 of 2024 with
MC (Arb. A.) No. 4 of 2025 with
MC (Arb. A.) No. 8 of 2025
BEFORE
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. M. SUNDAR
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AHANTHEM BIMOL SINGH
(ORDER)
(Order of the Court was made by M. Sundar, CJ)
15.12.2025
[1] Captioned main arbitration appeal is a statutory appeal
under Section 37 of 'the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of
1996)' {hereinafter, 'A&C Act' for the sake of brevity).
[2] In the hearing today, Mr. RK Umakanta, learned senior
counsel instructed by Mr. W. Niranjit, learned counsel on record for
State (to be noted, '3 appellants' are collectively being referred to as
'State' for the sake of convenience) and Mr. S.D. Singh, learned counsel
for sole respondent (hereinafter, 'Contractor' for the sake of
convenience and clarity) are before this Court.
Page 1 of 6
[3] Appellants (State) has taken out MC (Arb. A.) No. 8 of
2025 with a prayer seeking leave/permission to raise additional
grounds. Though there is an adumbration of three grounds in paragraph
5 of the MC, in sum and substance, one additional ground is sought to
be raised and that ground is non-compliance qua Section 31(5) of A&C
Act. This MC (Arb. A.) No. 8 of 2025 taken out by State is being resisted
and opposed by the Contractor. It is open to the Contractor to file an
affidavit-in-opposition, if so desired and if so advised.
[4] Be that as it may, we deem it appropriate to capture some
dates and events of significance which will also capture the calendrical
progression of trajectory the matter has taken in reaching this Court.
We do so and the same set out as a tabulation is as follows:
Sl. Date Event Remarks
1 12.01.2023 Arbitral award made This arbitral award
by Arbitral Tribunal shall be referred to
(AT). To be noted, this as 'impugned award'
arbitral award was (impugned award
made by a AT went in favour of
constituted by a sole Contractor/claimant).
Arbitrator who is a {All counter claims of
former Judge of State were
Hon'ble Supreme dismissed.}
Court.
Page 2 of 6
2 15.01.2023 Contractor submits This is the
that signed copy of the submission of
award sent by speed learned counsel for
post by AT and the Contractor as made
same was received by at the Bar.
Contractor
3 01.02.2023 According to the
petition of State before
the Section 34 Court,
---
counsel for State
furnished a copy of the
award with a opinion
that Section 34
petition can be filed.
4 12.04.2023 State construed that 3
months vide 34(3) ---
elapsed on this date
5 12.05.2023 State construed that
condonable 30 days ---
elapsed on this date.
6 02.08.2023 Section 34 petition Court of District
was filed in the Judge, Imphal West,
Section 34 Court. Manipur is the
Section 34 Court.
State filed this 34
petition along with a
Condonation of
Delay (CoD)
Page 3 of 6
application being
Judl. Misc. Case.
No. 40 of 2023,
seeking
condonation of 110
days delay.
7 03.08.2024 Section 34 Court
dismissed CoD
application and
---
consequently the
Section 34 petition
stood rejected.
8 02.09.2024 Captioned Section 34 ---
appeal was filed in this
Court by State.
9 11.12.2025 Afore-referred MC
(Arb. A) No. 8 of 2025
with prayer to raise
---
additional grounds
was filed by State.
[5] In the hearing today, a communication dated 11.12.2025
from Hon'ble sole Arbitrator to State {Deputy Secretary (Works) Government of Manipur} was placed before us by learned State counsel and learned counsel for Contractor consented to the same being taken Page 4 of 6 on record and looked into by the Court. By consent, this letter is taken on record and being looked into.
[6] 2 (two) paragraphs in this letter are of relevance and scanned reproduction of the same is as follows:
[7] In the afore-referred 6(six) e-mail addresses, we are informed that the addressees qua email IDs are as follows:
(i) staff of state counsel
(ii) the then Chief Engineer, Public Works Department, Government of Manipur
(iii) the then Commissioner, Works, Public Works Department, Government of Manipur
(iv) RK Sanjoy, Assistant Engineer, Public Works Department, Government of Manipur
(v) Vivek Roy, Executive Engineer, Public Works Department, Government of Manipur
(vi) Learned Advocate General for State of Manipur.Page 5 of 6
Learned advocate General for State of Manipur, Mr. Lenin Hijam, who is before us on the Video Conferencing Platform waiting for another matter, submits that he neither represented State nor advised the State in the Section 34 proceedings or before the AT. [8] Learned counsel on both sides requested for some time to examine the legal position as to whether afore-referred service of soft copy (PDF) of the impugned arbitral award will amount to compliance qua Section 31(5) of A&C Act, this common/joint request is acceded to, let the matter stand over to a date after the ensuing winter break.
[9] In the interregnum, the entire case records of the Section 34 Court shall be requisitioned by the Registry and placed before this Court in a sealed envelope, to be noted, case records pertaining to Judl. Misc. Case No. 40 of 2023 (CoD application) and the unnumbered Section 34 petition on the file of District Judge, Imphal West, Manipur. [10] Let the District Judge, Imphal West, Manipur, without waiting for requisition from the Registry forthwith send the entire records to the Registrar (Judicial) of this Court in a sealed cover and Registrar (Judicial) shall in turn place the entire records in sealed cover before this Court in the next listing.
[11] List on 11.02.2026.
JUDGE CHIEF JUSTICE
Sandeep
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