OCD-4 ORDER SHEET IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction ORIGINAL SIDE (Commercial Division) AP-COM/1024/2025 INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE LIMITED VS EASTERN COALFIELDS LIMITED BEFORE: The Hon’ble JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH Date : 13th January, 2026. Appearance Mr. Sourojit Dasgupta, Adv. Mr. Victor Dutta, Adv. ...for the petitioner Mr. Jishnu Shankar Banerjee, Adv. Mrs. Sanchita Barman Roy, Adv. Mr. Siddtharth Chamria, Adv. ..for the respondent The Court: The petitioner has filed the present application under Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking extension of the mandate of the arbitral tribunal for conclusion of the arbitral proceedings and publication of the arbitral award. Learned Counsel for the petitioner states that the learned sole arbitrator was appointed by this Court vide order dated 28.02.2020. He further states that the pleadings were completed on 16.11.2021. Due to the exclusion of the limitation period on account of covid-19 pandemic, the initial period of 12 months expired on 28.02.2023. With the consent of the parties, the mandate of the arbitral tribunal was extended by six months till 31.08.2023. This Court vide order dated 12.09.2023, 19.01.2024, 21.05.2024, 16.12.2024 and 10.06.2025 extended the mandate of the 2 arbitral tribunal by five months, four months, six months, six months and six months respectively. The learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that the matter is presently at the stage of final argument. Upon consideration of the submissions of the parties and the materials placed on record, this Court is satisfied that there has been no undue or unwarranted delay on the part of the learned sole arbitrator in conducting the proceedings. Having regard to the advanced stage of the arbitral proceedings and in the interest of justice, the mandate of the arbitral tribunal is further extended for a period of six months from today. The learned sole arbitrator is requested to make all reasonable endeavours to conclude the arbitral proceedings and publish the arbitral award within the extended time period. With the aforesaid observations, the present application stands disposed of. (GAURANG KANTH, J.) S. Mandi