Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 : ss. 2(h), 31(5), 34(1) read with s. 34(3) proviso-Limitation for filing application for setting aside the award-Delivery of copy of award to "party"- "Party" making application for setting aside award-Arbitration proceedings between Railways and contractor-Copy of award delivered in office of General Manager, Railways-Later, copy of award delivered by arbitral tribunal to Chief Engineer concerned-Chief Engineer filing application for setting aside the award alongwith an application for condonation of delay-Application contested as being beyond the period of limitation from the date of receipt of copy of award in Office of General Manager-Held, in the context of State or a department of Government, more so, a large organization like Railways, "party" as referred to in s. 2(h) read with s. 31(5) and s. 34(3) has to be construed to be a person directly connected with and involved in the proceedings and who is in control of the proceedings before the arbitrator- On facts, the Chief Engineer was representing the Union of India and notices of the proceedings were served on him-Subject matter of arbitration was related to his department-He was directly concerned with the arbitration-Delivery of copy of award within the meaning of s. 31 (5) shall be deemed to have taken place on the date Chief Engineer received copy of the award as that date would be the starting point of limitation to challenge the award-Thus calculated, the delay in filing application u/s 34(1) deserves to be condoned-Judicial Notice. In a disputed claim arising out of a work contract between appellant-Railways and respondent-contractor, the General Manager, Southern Railways referred the matter to an arbitral tribunal, which gave its award, a copy of which was delivered in the office of the General Manager, Southern Railways on 12.3.2001. The Chief Engineer of the department concerned received the copy of the award from the arbitral tribunal on 19.3.2000, and presented an application on 10.7.2001 for setting aside the said award under s. 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, alongwith an application for condonation of 27 days delay calculated from 19.3.2001, the date on which he received the copy of the award. The contractor contested the application for condonation of delay on the ground that limitation was to be calculated from 12.3.2001, the date on which copy of the award was delivered in the office of the General Manager, Southern Railways, and thus calculated, there being 34 days delay, the proviso appended to sub-s.(3) of s. 34 of the Act did not permit any delay beyond 30 days to be condoned by the Court. The single Judge of the High Court accepted the stand of the contractor. In appeal, the Division Bench of the High Court upheld the decision. Aggrieved, the Railways filed the present appeal.