The petitioner before the Court, Nikhil Malkan, had sought an extension of the mandate of an arbitrator, which had expired in August 2023. It was argued that the mandate had earlier expired in February 2023. However, the parties had extended the mandate by consent for six more months.
By the time the six-month extension expired in August 2023, the arbitration proceedings had reached the stage of final hearing.
The final hearing commenced from September 11. When the proceedings were at the stage of rejoinder arguments, an objection was raised by the respondents, SCIL, that the mandate of the arbitrator had expired.
Aggrieved by the objection, Malkan approached the High Court seeking the extension of the expired mandate.
Source: Barandbench
