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3. In two of the three appeals before us, i.e., Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 665 of 2021 and Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) Diary No.18079 of 2020, the High Courts of Bombay and Delhi vide judgments dated 17.12.2020 and 15.10.2019 respectively, dismissed the appeals filed by the Government of Maharashtra and by the Union of India respectively, refusing to condone the delay in the filing of the appeal under section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 [“Arbitration Act”] beyond 120 days. So far as the Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No.15278 of 2020 is concerned, the High Court of Madhya Pradesh refused to follow the judgment of this Court in N.V. International (supra) stating that there is a conflict between this judgment and the judgment of a larger Bench of this Court reported in Consolidated Engg. Enterprises v. Irrigation Deptt., (2008) 7 SCC 169 [“Consolidated Engg.”]. It was, therefore, held that it was open for the High Court to condone the delay applying section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 [“Limitation Act”] and, as a matter of fact, a delay of what was stated to be 57 days was condoned.

11. Shri Manoj Chouhan, learned counsel appearing on behalf of M/s Swastik Wires, the appellant in Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No.15278 of 2020, supported the impugned judgment dated 27.01.2020 of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh and argued that this Court’s judgment in Consolidated Engg. (supra), being a judgment of three learned judges, would prevail over the judgment of this Court in N.V. International (supra), which is only delivered by two learned judges and, therefore, delay can be condoned. He also added that once section 5 of the Limitation Act applies, the Court cannot impose any limits on the expression “sufficient cause” and even if there are long delays and sufficient cause is made out, such delays can be condoned. Further, he argued that this Court could use Article 142 of the Constitution, which is a veritable brahmāstra and panacea for all ills, to do justice in individual cases.

23. Section 37 of the Arbitration Act, when read with section 43 thereof, makes it clear that the provisions of the Limitation Act will apply to appeals that are filed under section 37. This takes us to Articles 116 and 117 of the Limitation Act, which provide for a limitation period of 90 days and 30 days, depending upon whether the appeal is from any other court to a High Court or an intra-High Court appeal. There can be no doubt whatsoever that section 5 of the Limitation Act will apply to the aforesaid appeals, both by virtue of section 43 of the Arbitration Act and by virtue of section 29(2) of the Limitation Act. This aspect of the matter has been set out in the concurring judgment of Raveendran, J. in Consolidated Engg. (supra), as follows:

63. Apart from this, there is a long delay of 131 days beyond the 60- day period provided for filing an appeal under section 13(1A) of the Commercial Courts Act. There is no explanation worth the name contained in the condonation of delay application, beyond the usual file-pushing and administrative exigency. This appeal is therefore dismissed.

64. In the Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 15278 of 2020, the impugned judgment of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh dated 27.01.2020 relies upon Consolidated Engg. (supra) and thereby states that the judgment of this Court in N.V. International (supra) would not apply. The judgment of the High Court is wholly incorrect inasmuch as Consolidated Engg. (supra) was a judgment which applied the provisions of section 14 of the Limitation Act and had nothing to do with the application of section 5 of the Limitation Act. N.V. International (supra) was a direct judgment which applied the provisions of section 5 of the Limitation Act and then held that no condonation of delay could take place beyond 120 days. The High Court was bound to follow N.V. International (supra), as on the date of the judgment of the High Court, N.V. International (supra) was a judgment of two learned judges of the Supreme Court binding upon the High Court by virtue of Article 141 of the Constitution. On this score, the impugned judgment of the High Court deserves to be set aside.