A case in which a foreign award from 2012 was yet to be executed prompted the Kerala High Court on Tuesday to draw attention to loopholes in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1996 that enable such delays.
Justice CS Dias held that the course of action adopted by the petitioner in filing an application for a refund of court fees without appealing the decree itself was untenable and impermissible in law.
The Court was considering a petition seeking review of a previous judgment in which it declared that the right to terminate marriage at the instance of a Muslim wife is an absolute right.
The Court observed that negligence on the part of the lawyer is sufficient cause to condone delay in filing petitions, especially when no malafides can be attributed to the party in question.