OCD-8 ORDER SHEET IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA COMMERCIAL DIVISION ORIGINAL SIDE AP-COM/713/2026 RAKESH KUMAR CHAUDHARY VS STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA LIMITYED, DURGAPUR STEEL PLANT BEFORE: The Hon’ble JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH Date : 2nd September, 2026. Appearance: Mr. Debraj Sahu, Adv. Mr. Soumik Chakraborty, Adv. …for the petitioner Mr. Lakshmi Kanta Pal, Adv. …for the respondent The Court: The petitioner has preferred the present petition under Section 29A(4) 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 25.09.2024 had appointed a sole Arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties. The pleadings were completed on 24.03.2025. With the consent of the parties, the mandate of the Arbitral Tribunal was extended for a period of six months till 23.09.2026. Learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that the matter is at the stage of recording of evidence. 2 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 one year 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 stands disposed of. (GAURANG KANTH, J.) R.Bhar