OCD-8 ORDER SHEET IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA COMMERCIAL DIVISION ORIGINAL SIDE AP-COM/96/2026 M/S. SINGH CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION VS THE WEST BENGAL COOPERATIVE SPINNING MILLS LTD. BEFORE: The Hon’ble JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH Date : 23rd February, 2026. Appearance: Mr. Chandrachur Biswas, Adv. Dr. R.P. Motilal, Adv. …for the petitioner Mr. Rittick Chowdhury, Adv. Mr. Debayan Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Soumyajyoti Nandy, Adv. Mr. Deepankar Thakur, Adv. …for the respondent The Court: The petitioner has preferred the present petition under Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seeking extension of the mandate of the Arbitral Tribunal for completion of the arbitral proceedings and publication of the arbitral award. Learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that this Court vide order dated 14.06.2023 had appointed the sole Arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties. The pleadings were completed on 18.06.2024. The evidence of the claimant’s witness was partly recorded on 15.01.2025 and 17.05.2025. Thereafter, the mother of the said witness fell seriously ill and had to be taken to Chennai for medical emergency. Due to such medical 2 emergency, the petitioner was unable to produce the witness and accordingly, the evidence remained incomplete. Learned Counsel for the petitioner states that the mother of the witness is in the process of recovery. Upon her recovery, the witness shall be made available so that the remaining evidence may be concluded at the earliest. The mandate of the Tribunal expired on 18.06.2025. Learned Counsel for the respondent states that he has no objection to the extension of the mandate of the Arbitral Tribunal. Upon consideration of the submissions of both 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 proceedings and in the interest of justice, the mandate of the learned sole Arbitrator is extended further 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 petition is disposed of. (GAURANG KANTH, J.) R.Bhar