Calcutta High Court
M/S. B.B.M. Enterprises vs State Of West Bengal on 5 December, 2018
Author: Soumen Sen
Bench: Soumen Sen
ORDER
EC NO. 278 OF 2018
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction
M/S. B.B.M. ENTERPRISES
Versus
STATE OF WEST BENGAL
BEFORE:
The Hon'ble JUSTICE SOUMEN SEN
Date : 5th December 2018.
Appearance:
Mr. Malay Kr. Ghosh, Sr. Advocate
Ms. Nilanjana Adhya, Advocate
...for the award-holder.
Mr. Paritosh Sinha, Advocate
Mr. Arindam Mandal, Advocate
...for the award-debtor.
The application for stay of operation of the award could not
be taken up by the Learned District Judge at Tamluk, in view of
the fact that the application for setting aside of the award was
filed beyond the period of 90 days and an application for
condonation of delay is pending before the Learned District Judge
at Tamluk. Mr. Malay Kumar Ghosh, learned senior counsel
representing the award-holder, has produced before this Court the
order passed by the Learned District Judge on 20th November 2018 in
Misc. Case No. 6 of 2018 wherefrom it appears that the application
for condonation of delay is fixed for hearing on 4th February 2019.
The claim of the award-holder is otherwise secured. The bank
account of the award-debtor has been attached for a sum of Rs.
1.54 crore. Moreover, it appears that a decision of the coordinate Bench in GA No. 1903 of 2018 with AP No. 1121 of 2016 [Union of India & Anr. Vs. Palm Development Pvt. Ltd.] passed on 5th September 2018 has not been interfered with by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in SLP (C) No. 25765/2018. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has dismissed the special leave petition on 3rd December 2018 arising out of the aforesaid order. Justice Ashis Kumar Chakraborty has held in the said judgment that the Union of India is entitled to obtain an order of unconditional stay of operation of the award. Justice Chakraborty has referred to the definition of "Government" in Order 28 Rules (8-A) and (8-B) of the Code of Civil Procedure and held that the Central Government and the State Government are exempted from furnishing security. In the event the application for condonation of delay is allowed, the award- debtor would enjoy an unconditional stay of operation of the award, in which case, the earlier orders passed in this proceeding need to be recalled.
On such considerations, the matter stands adjourned till 12th February 2019.
The Learned District Judge at Tamluk is requested to pre-pone the hearing of the application, if possible, so that by the adjourned date, this Court could be informed of the final order of the Learned District Judge.
(SOUMEN SEN, J.) S. Kumar