UNION OF INDIA, THROUGH THE DIRECTOR OF THE INDIAN VETERINARY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, IZATNAGAR Vs. ALI AHMAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant, the Union of India, entered into a contract with the respondent, Ali Ahmad, for the supply of goods. The contract contained an arbitration clause. A difference having arisen between the parties, the appellant filed an application under Section 20 of the Indian Arbitration Act, 1940 before the learned Civil Judge, Bareilly. The application was opposed, inter alia, on the ground that it was barred by time. Before the learned Civil Judge, the respondent relied on Article 181 of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 while the case of the appellant was that Article 120 applied. The contention of the respondent found favour with the learned Civil Judge and holding that the application was barred by time he rejected it. The appellant has preferred an appeal against that order.

(2.) The appeal came on for hearing before D. S. Mathur, J. who referred the case to a larger Bench. When the appeal was listed before a Division Bench, the Bench expressed the opinion that the question whether Article 181 of the Limitation Act applied to an application under Section 20 of the Arbitration Act should be considered by a still larger Bench. Accordingly, the matter has now been laid before us.

(3.) Section 3 of the Limitation Act requires that every suit instituted, appeal preferred, and applications made after the period of limitation prescribed therefor by the first schedule shall be dismissed. The first schedule appended to the Act is divided into three divisions, the first division relates to suits, the second to appeals and the third to applications. In the statute as originally enacted, some of the articles in the third division referred to the Code of Civil Procedure. Among them, Article 158 spoke of an application