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2. The brief facts leading to filing of the present appeal in nut­shell are as under:

2.1 That, an arbitral award was passed against the appellant under the provisions of the Arbitration Act on 24.08.2016. As per Section 34(3) of the Arbitration Act, 90 days are prescribed for preferring an application under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act against the arbitral award. However, the said period was extendable by a further period of 30 days in terms of the proviso to Section 34(3) of the Act, 2016. In the present case, the period of 90 days prescribed under Section 34(3) of the Arbitration Act expired on 24.11.2016. The appellant was entitled to a further extended period of 30 days from 23.11.2016 onwards in terms of the proviso to Section 34(3) which was upto 24.12.2016.

4.13 Now, so far as the contention on behalf of the respondent that present proceeding is “any Act or proceeding to which the Limitation Act applies” is a misconceived argument is concerned, it is submitted that the respondents have sought to rely on proviso to Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. Relying upon Section 43(1) of the Arbitration Act to contend that the Limitation Act applies to the present proceedings, it is submitted that Section 43(1) of the Arbitration Act merely states that “the Limitation Act, 1963 shall apply to arbitrations as it applies to proceedings in Court”. It is submitted that this cannot be interpreted to mean that the Limitation Act, in its entirety applies to proceeding under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act and that the present proceedings are an act or proceeding to which the Limitation Act applies. It is submitted that in fact, in matters of limitation, Section 34 of the Arbitration Act is a complete code. It is submitted that the respondent’s entire case, on one hand, is that the benefit of Limitation Act, particularly Section 4 of the Limitation Act, cannot be given to the condonable period in the instant case. It is submitted that therefore on one hand, the respondent is arguing that the benefit of Section 4 of the Limitation Act, as well as Section 5 of the Limitation Act has no application to the condonable period under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, i.e. the Limitation Act has no application in the present proceedings, at the same time, the respondent is contending that the benefit of Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 cannot be given to the appellant, as the present proceeding falls within the ambit of the phrase “any act or proceeding to which the Indian Limitation Act, 1877, applies”.

5. Present appeal is vehemently opposed by Shri Dhruv Mehta, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent.

5.1 It is submitted that in the present case the appellant admittedly received the award on 24.08.2016. As per Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, “the prescribed period” of 3 months to challenge the award expired on 24.11.2016 and further period of 30 days under the proviso to Section 34(3) of the Arbitration Act expired on 24.12.2016. That, the learned trial Court was on winter vacation between 19.12.2016 to 01.01.2017. The appellant preferred its Section 34 of the Arbitration Act before the learned trial Court on 02.01.2017 i.e. on the day of reopening, accompanied by an application seeking condonation of delay. It is submitted that the learned trial Court after considering both, the maintainability and merits of the appellant’s application for condonation, has found that the application was not maintainable and also that no sufficient cause had been shown by the appellant. It is submitted that the High Court has upheld the order of trial Court that the petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act was not maintainable for being beyond the “prescribed period” under Section 34(3) of the Arbitration Act. It is submitted that therefore the following questions arise for consideration in the present case.

5.2 Now, so far as the applicability of Section 4 of the Limitation Act is concerned, it is vehemently submitted by Shri Dhruv Mehta, learned Senior Counsel that Section 4 of the Limitation Act shall not be applicable to the 30 days’ discretionary condonable period contemplated under proviso to Section 34(3) of the Arbitration Act. It is submitted that Section 34(3) of the Arbitration Act stipulates that an application under Section 34(1) of the Arbitration Act challenging an arbitral award may not be made after a period of three months from the date on which the party making the application had received the arbitral award. The proviso to Section 34(3) gives limited powers to the Court, on sufficient cause being shown, to condone delay in filing the application under Section 34(1) only for a maximum period of 30 days, but not thereafter. It is submitted that in the case of Union of India v. Popular Construction Co. reported in (2001) 8 SCC 470 (Paras 10, 12, 14 and 16), this Court has observed that usage of words “but not thereafter” in the proviso to Section 34(3) amounts to an express exclusion within the meaning of Section 29(2) of the Limitation Act. Therefore, the Court would have no discretion to condone the delay in excess of 30 days. Section 5 of the Limitation Act was, therefore, held to be inapplicable to Section 34(1) of the Arbitration Act.