Narayan Sewa Samiti Vs Millennium Education Management Pvt. Ltd. — Arbitration | Delhi HC (2025)

Narayan Sewa Samiti Vs Millennium Education Management Pvt. Ltd. — Arbitration | Delhi HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Delay in filing the respondent's reply condoned; petition disposed of as infructuous in view of the subsequent development (final award dated 20.03.2025 and dismissal of the Section 34 petition on 22.05.2025), with all rights and contentions of the parties reserved; hearing fixed for 02.12.2025 cancelled.

Issue for consideration

Whether the delay in the respondent's filing of its reply (CM APPL. 44224/2025, for condonation of delay) should be condoned. +1 more

Court's answer

The delay in filing the respondent's reply is condoned and, with that, the present petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.

Ratio / Principle

The interim order passed by the Arbitral Tribunal stands merged with the final award; therefore there is no compelling reason to keep this petition alive, and the petitioner, if aggrieved by the impugned order, can always make reference to it when it further files any petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.

Key takeaways

In view of the abovesaid subsequent development, the present petition has become infructuous and stands disposed of.ratio¶9
It is clarified that the Court has made no observation on the merits of the case as such; all rights and contentions of the parties are reserved, and the disposal would have no reflection, either way, on the contempt petition which is still pending adjudication.ratio¶10

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

High Court of Delhi (Manoj Jain, J.; oral judgment, 24 July 2025) in CM(M) 201/2025: Narayan Sewa Samiti (petitioner, a non-claimant) had challenged an Arbitral Tribunal order dated 09.09.2024 which dismissed its Section 16 objection and simultaneously allowed the claimant's Section 27(5) application to proceed against it for initiation of contempt. During pendency, the Sole Arbitrator passed the final award on 20.03.2025, and the petitioner's Section 34 challenge to that award was dismissed on 22.05.2025 for lack of pecuniary jurisdiction, with liberty to approach a competent court. Holding that the interim order of the Arbitral Tribunal stands merged with the final award and that there was therefore no compelling reason to keep the petition alive, the Court disposed of the petition as infructuous while condoning the respondent's delay in filing its reply; it expressly made no observation on merits, reserved all rights and contentions, and clarified that the disposal carried no implication either way for the contempt application still awaiting adjudication. The hearing fixed for 02.12.2025 was cancelled.

$~74 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 24^th July, 2025

- CM(M) 201/2025 NARAYAN SEWA SAMITI

.....Petitioner

Through: Mr. Siddhant Sharma and Mr. Prafull Bhardwaj, Advocates.

versus

MILLENNIUM EDUCATION MANAGEMENT PVT. LTD.

.....Respondent

Through: Mr. Dhruv Varma and Mr. Rohit Kathuria, Advocates.

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ JAIN

J U D G M E N T (oral)

CM(M) 201/2025 & CM APPL. 44224/2025 (for condonation of delay)

The abovesaid application has been filed by respondent whereby he seeks condonation of delay in filing the reply. 2. The learned counsel for the petitioner has also joined the proceedings through video conferencing .

This Court has gone through the averments made in such reply which rather, indicates that the present petition has become infructuous.

The petitioner herein is non-claimant and is aggrieved by order dated 09.09.2024 passed by Arbitral Tribunal whereby his application moved under Section 16 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been dismissed and, simultaneously, the application filed by the respondent under Section 27 (5) of Arbitration and Conciliation Act for proceeding against the petitioner for

CM(M) 201/2025 1

Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SONIA THAPLIYAL Signing Da te:2 6.07.2025 14:21:00

initiation of contempt has been allowed.

Fact remains that, as per the facts mentioned in the reply, the learned Sole Arbitrator has already passed final award on 20.03.2025. 6. Such award was challenged by the petitioner herein by filing a petition under Section 34 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act and such petition has also been dismissed on 22.05.2025 on the ground of lack of pecuniary jurisdiction. Admittedly, the petitioner has also been granted an opportunity to approach the Court of competent jurisdiction.

It is, however, apprised that, so far the respondent herein has not received any advance intimation about any fresh filing of petition under Section 34 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act. 8. The interim order passed by the Arbitral Tribunal stands merged with the final award and, therefore, there is no compelling reason to keep this petition alive and, therefore, since the award has already been passed and if the petitioner is aggrieved by the order which is impugned herein he can always make reference to such order, as and when, he, further, files any petition under Section 34 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act.

The present petition stands disposed of in view of the abovesaid subsequent development. 10. However, it is also clarified that this Court has not made any observation on the merits of the case as such and, therefore, all the rights and contentions of the parties are reserved and the dismissal would have no reflection, either way, with respect to the contempt petition which is still pending adjudication.

While condoning the delay in filing the reply, the present petition is also disposed of in aforesaid terms.

CM(M) 201/2025 2

Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SONIA THAPLIYAL Signing Da te:2 6.07.2025 14:21:00

The next date i.e. 02.12.2025 is cancelled.

(MANOJ JAIN) JUDGE

JULY 24, 2025/ss/pb

Signature Not Verified

Digitally Signed CM(M) 201/2025 3 By:SONIA THAPLIYAL Signing Da te:2 6.07.2025 14:21:00