2026:HHC:6197 IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA Arb. Case No. 4/2026 Decided on: 06.03.2026 Narain Dass Naik …..Petitioner Versus State of Himachal Pradesh & ors. ….Respondents ______________________________________________________________ Coram: The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Romesh Verma, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 For the Petitioner: Mr. Suneet Goel, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Vivek Negi, Advocate. For the Respondent: Mr. Diwakar Dev Sharma, Addl. A.G. Romesh Verma, Judge (oral) The present petition under Section 29-A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been filed seeking extension of time to the Arbitral Tribunal to complete the arbitral proceedings. 2 As per the averments made in the petition, it has been averred that the Superintending Engineer, Arbitration Circle, HPPWD, Solan, was appointed as sole Arbitrator on 01.01.2012. Thereafter, the present petitioner approached this Court vide Arbitration Case No. 152/2022 for removal of the 1Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes. 2 Arbitrator and in pursuance to the directions of this Court vide order dated 30.12.2012, the Superintending Engineer was removed as the sole Arbitrator and Mr. Naresh Kumar Sood, Senior Advocate, was appointed as Arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties. 3 It has further been averred that the proceedings have reached the final stage, but on account of unavoidable circumstances, time for making the award has elapsed. Thereafter, the petitioner filed Arbitration Case No. 122/2025 before this Court for extension of time, which was allowed by this Court vide order dated 16.05.2025, whereby six months’ time was granted to the Arbitrator to pass the final award w.e.f 20.12.2024, however the arbitral proceedings were not completed. Therefore, in this background, the petitioner has again approached this Court seeking extension of time for completion of arbitral proceedings. 4 In view of the averments made in the petition, which is duly supported by an affidavit, time for completion of the arbitral proceedings is extended for six months from today. 5 The petition stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms. (Romesh Verma) 06.03.2026 Judge (pankaj)