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“Arbitration Act” 10 By an order dated 17 January 2018 of this Court in proceedings initiated under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration Act, Mr Justice S N Variava was appointed as the sole arbitrator with the consent of the parties.

11 The arbitrator entered upon the reference on 14 February 2018. On 21 March 2018, a preliminary meeting was held between the parties and the arbitrator at which the parties agreed to a six months extension, if the arbitral proceedings could not be completed within a period of twelve months commencing from the date the arbitral tribunal entered reference. The time to deliver the award in the proceedings before the arbitral tribunal stood extended until 14 August 2019 since the parties had consented to an extension of six months.

21 We have heard Mr Jaideep Gupta, senior counsel appearing on behalf of the applicant and Mr Ankur Kashyap, counsel appearing on behalf of the second respondent.

22 The submission which has been urged on behalf of the applicant is that as a result of the amendment of Section 29A by Act 33 of 2019, the period of 12 months prescribed for making an award from the date of the completion of the pleadings has ceased to apply to an international commercial arbitration. Hence, it has been urged that the amendment being of a procedural nature, the amended provision would apply to the arbitral proceedings in the present case following the appointment of Justice S N Variava on 17 January 2018 and pursuant to the arbitrator entering upon reference on 14 February 2018. Alternatively, the applicant has urged that in the event that this Court were to hold that the amended provisions of Section 29A are inapplicable to the present arbitration, a further extension of time may be granted to the sole arbitrator to complete the arbitral proceedings.

23 The first respondent has not entered appearance in these proceedings. The second respondent, who is contesting the proceedings as a guarantor, has urged that the amendment of Section 29A by Act 33 of 2019 would not lead to the conclusion that an international commercial arbitration lies outside the purview of the provision. The second respondent has submitted that reading the provisions of Section 29A in the manner in which the applicant seeks to read them would result in a situation where there would be no timeline under the statute for an international commercial arbitration. Where an international commercial arbitration is governed by the Rules of an arbitral institution, such rules would structure the conduct of the arbitration. The second respondent has submitted that it was not the intention of the legislature that in a case which is not governed by an arbitral institution, the court would have no control over the time taken in the course of the arbitral proceedings leaving the matter entirely within the discretion of the arbitral forum in a situation such as the present, where the arbitral proceeding is governed by Indian Law and has a seat within the country. 24 The provisions of Section 29A, as originally introduced into the statute, mandated that all awards shall be made within a period of twelve months from the date on which the arbitral tribunal enters upon the reference. The explanation clarified when the arbitral tribunal would be deemed to have entered upon the reference, namely, the date on which the arbitrator has received written notice of the appointment. The mandatory nature of the provisions of Section 29A(1) and their application to all arbitrations conducted under the Act, domestic or international commercial, was evident from the use of the word “shall”. In terms of Section 29A(4), in case the arbitral award was not rendered within the twelve or eighteen month period as the case may be, the mandate of the arbitrator(s) would stand terminated, unless on an application made by any of the parties, the court extended time on sufficient cause being shown. 25 After the amendment, Section 29A(1) stipulates that the award “in matters other than international commercial arbitration” shall be made by the arbitral tribunal within a period of twelve months from the date of the completion of the pleadings under Section 23(4).10 The expression “in matters other than an international commercial arbitration” makes it abundantly clear that the timeline of twelve months which is stipulated in the substantive part of Section 29A(1), as amended, does not apply to international commercial arbitrations. This is further reaffirmed in the proviso to Section 29A(1) which stipulates that the award in the matter of an international commercial arbitration “may be made as expeditiously as possible” and that an “endeavour may be made to dispose of the matter within a period of 12 months” from the date of the completion of pleadings. The expression “as expeditiously as possible” coupled with the expression “endeavour Section 23(4) of the Arbitration Act, as inserted by Act 33 of 2019, provides that “The statement of claim and defence under this section shall be completed within a period of six months from the date the arbitrator or all the arbitrators, as the case may be, received notice, in writing of their appointment.” may be made” demonstrate that the intent of Parliament is that the period of twelve months for making the award is not mandatory in the case of an international commercial arbitration. In an international commercial arbitration, the arbitral tribunal is required to endeavour, that is, make an effort to render the arbitral award within a period of twelve months or in a timely manner. In a domestic arbitration, Section 29A(1) stipulates a mandatory period of twelve months for the arbitrator to render the arbitral award. In contrast, the substantive part of Section 29A(1) clarifies that the period of twelve months would not be mandatory for an international commercial arbitration. Hence, post amendment, the time limit of twelve months as prescribed in Section 29A is applicable to only domestic arbitrations and the twelve-month period is only directory in nature for an international commercial arbitration.