Mrs. Geetaben Anilkumar Patel And Ors. vs Pravinchandra Jinabhai Patel And Ors.

3. The facts of the case are that the appellant No.1/Anilkumar Patel and respondent No.1/Pravinchandra Patel are real brothers and sons of 1 Jinabhai. They had three other brothers who were already separated. So far as the parties before us, they are related as under:-

4. While arbitrators were away to Rajkot due to emergency work, both Pravinchandra Patel and Anilkumar Patel decided to streamline the ongoing business of firms and companies by signing of an interim MOU on 29.06.1996 (IMOU). The covenants of the said IMOU covered the matters relating to bank accounts and withdrawal power, NPK allocation etc. The said IMOU was signed by Pravinchandra Patel for himself and on behalf of his family members. Similarly, Anilkumar Patel signed in the IMOU for himself and also as a power of attorney holder for his wife, his all sons and daughter-in-law.

5. The arbitrators arrived at Jalgaon on 04.07.1996 and continued with the arbitration proceeding and passed the award on 07.07.1996 (with a mention of IMOU dated 29.06.1996) under which certain properties were given to Pravinchandra Patel and Anilkumar Patel whereas some other assets were kept undivided with equal rights and interest thereon of both groups. The award was written in Gujarati 3 language by hand by the arbitrators and signed by the arbitrators. The copy of the award was given to Pravinchandra Patel and Anilkumar Patel by arbitrators in person which was duly acknowledged by them. Copy of the award bears signature of both Pravinchandra Patel and Anilkumar Patel with recital that they and their family members will act as per the award and will give effect to the same. Then by an award dated 03.11.1996, the issues between appellants and respondents were finally decided taking note of earlier awards. According to Pravinchandra Patel, Anilkumar Patel accepted and acted upon the awards on more than one occasion.

6. However, Anilkumar Patel and his family members (appellant Nos. 1(a) to 1(d) and respondent No.10) filed an arbitration petition No.202 of 2005 under Section 34 of the Act before the District Judge, Jalgaon on 29.11.2005 challenging the award dated 07.07.1996 contending that they learnt about the arbitral award only on 11.08.2005 when they were served with the notice of execution petition filed by Pravinchandra Patel alongwith the xerox of the award dated 07.07.1996. Therefore, as per the appellant-Anilkumar Patel, period of limitation starts only from 11.08.2005, from the date of their receipt of copy of the award. It was further alleged that, appellant Nos. 1(a) to 1(d) and respondent No.10 were not included as party in the award dated 07.07.1996 and the 4 award is not binding on them. They have, inter alia, alleged that the award is a false and fraudulent document. They also emphasized that the signature of Anilkumar Patel in the arbitral award showing his acknowledgement was forged and therefore, could not be acted upon.

7. Later on, an application came to be filed by Anilkumar Patel for himself and on behalf of his family members for an amendment under Order VI Rule 17 C.P.C. stating that the arbitration petition No.202 of 2005 filed initially, did not contain the challenge to award dated 03.11.1996 and hence, by an amendment sought to challenge award dated 03.11.1996 as well. The said application was dismissed on 30.06.2006 by the District Court on the ground of limitation which was further challenged through W.P. No.5502 of 2006 before the High Court. The same was remanded to the District Judge on 21.08.2006 for consideration of the matter afresh. After remand, the District Judge by order dated 28.09.2006 again dismissed the amendment application on the ground of limitation. The said order dated 28.09.2006 was again challenged by Anilkumar Patel under W.P. No.7614 of 2006. The High Court vide order dated 13.11.2006 dismissed the writ petition observing that Anilkumar Patel is adopting tactics of approbate and reprobate and Anilkumar Patel is acting as per his convenience by denying the knowledge of award dated 03.11.1996 in some court proceedings 5 though in some other proceedings, he has relied on the said award and sought to take advantage on the basis of the said award.

(3) An application for setting aside may not be made after three months have elapsed from the date on which the party making that application had received the arbitral award or, if a request had been made under Section 33, from the date on which that request had been disposed of by the arbitral tribunal:

27. In the result, the appeals are dismissed. No costs.

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