Amendments to the 2018 Arbitration Bill: A New Era for Indian Arbitration, Essays (university) of Law

Download Amendments to the 2018 Arbitration Bill: A New Era for Indian Arbitration and more Essays (university) Law in PDF only on Docsity! Amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill, 2018 The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 has been approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for its introduction in the Parliament. It is a result of the efforts of the Government to encourage institutional arbitration for settlement of disputes and make India a centre of robust Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism. It seeks to establish an Independent body to make arbitration process user friendly cost effective and ensure speedy disposal and neutrality of arbitrators and also add a few other provisions for the attainment of the same. A High Level Committee (HLC) under the Chairmanship of Justice B. H. Srikrishna, Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India, was constituted by the Central Government to remove some practical difficulties in applicability of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2013. The HLC was authorized to examine the effectiveness of existing arbitration mechanism by studying the functioning and performance of Arbitral Institutions in India, to devise a road map to promote institutionalized arbitration mechanisms in India and to evolve an effective and efficient arbitration eco-system for commercial dispute resolution and submit a Report on suggested reforms in the statute. The HLC submitted its Report on 30th July, 2017 and has recommended for amendments in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Proposed Amendments. The Amendment facilitates speedy appointment of Arbitrators through designated arbitral institutions by the Supreme Court or the High Court, without having any requirement to approach the court in this regard. For this purpose, the Government provides for the creation of the Arbitration Council of India (ACI) which will grade Arbitral Tribunal and assign Arbitrators by laying down norms and take steps necessary to promote and encourage arbitration, conciliation, mediation and ADR mechanism. The ACI shall be a non-Judicial body corporate and shall also maintain an electronic depository of all the Arbitral Awards. Requirement of ACI can be seen in the amended provisions of Section 11 inserted as sub-section (6A) by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015. The Chairperson of ACI shall be a person who has been a Judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice or Judge of any High Court or any eminent person. Further, the other Members would include an eminent academician etc. besides other Government nominees. The Council shall also evolve policy and guidelines for the establishment, operation and maintenance of uniform professional standards in respect of all matters relating to Arbitration and ADR mechanism. Secondly it proposes to amend sub section (1) of 29A by excluding International Arbitration from the bounds of timeline. Section 29A falls under Part I of the Act and International Arbitration is outside the ambit of Part I of the Act. In the case of Bharat Aluminium Company and Ors. etc.vs. Kaiser Aluminium Technical Service, Inc. and Ors. (2012) 9 SCC the Apex Court held that applicability of Part I of the Arbitration Act, 1996 is limited to all arbitrations which take place in India. Similarly, no suit for interim injunction simplicitor would be maintainable in India, on the basis of an international commercial arbitration with a seat outside India. The Court also declared that “ the law now declared by this Court shall apply prospectively, to all the arbitration agreements executed hereafter.” The Judgment of this case clearly distinguishes the applicability of Part I and Part II of the Act. It further aims to provide that the time limit for arbitral award in other arbitrations shall be within 12 months from the completion of the pleadings of the parties. The time limit of 12 months starting after the completion of the pleadings by the parties to arbitration somehow, completely negates the concept of timely disposition of arbitration matters. This might enable the parties to carry out the pleadings as per their ease without any mandate upon them and will be responsible for long and bulky pendency of matters before the Tribunal.