DELHI HIGH COURT: TECHNICAL DEFICIENCIES, INCLUDING PAGINATION AND AFFIDAVIT ATTESTATION, DO NOT RENDER SECTION 34 UNDER ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION ACT NON-EST

The Delhi High Court in the case Viceroy Engineering v. Smith’s Detection Veecon Systems Pvt Ltd observed and has held that the technical deficiencies, which includes pagination and affidavit attestation, do not invalidate petitions moved under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.

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The bench headed by Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri in the case observed and has held that every objection in the filing would not render a petition non-est and it is only the defects that goes to the root of the matter that would make of the filing non-est.

Facts of the Case:

The petitioner in the plea contested an Arbitral Award which is issued on March 15, 2019, and has filed the petition on July 10, 2019. Thus, the initial filing on 29.06.2019 faced issues as it was deemed non-est due to procedural errors, and instead of following the appropriate format, a company petition was erroneously filed, rendering the first attempt ineffective.

The petitioner on July 10, 2019, filed the petition, encountering objections from the Registry, including pagination concerns, jurisdictional matters, and the attestation of affidavits. Thus, the petitioner in the plea diligently addressed these objections during subsequent clearance attempts on July 30, 2019, August 01, 2019, and August 02, 2019.