Introduction
Time to time government has rigorously taken efforts to improve India’s ranking on the list of doing and providing a platform in the legal framework with the ease of dispute resolution, aimed to provide the comfort for doing business and investing without going through into the hardcore of legality. Earlier, with the same view, the arbitration and conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 (“Amendment Act”) was introduced to amend certain provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and hence was concluded as a positive step in the direction.
In the furtherance to this and furthermore boosting the confidence of foreign and domestic businesses, in India, the committee was chaired by the retired Supreme Court judge B. N. Srikrishna submitting the report on various required amendments for strengthening the infrastructure and foundation of the Amendment Act and also for removing certain ambiguities.
Understanding that dispute resolution process has a huge impact on the Indian economy and global perception on doing business in our country and it has become necessary to inspire confidence and credibility among the litigants of commercial disputes, the report of the committee, chaired by Justice Srikrishna, the cabinet on March 7, 2018 has approved the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 which will further be introduced in the parliament.
Salient features introduced in the Bill:
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Establishment of the Arbitration Council of India:
Body corporate, independent, called ACI will be established, according to the bill, for providing establishment and incorporating an independent and autonomous regime for the institutional arbitration and accrediting the same, aimed to promote and encourage arbitration and alternative dispute resolution mechanism and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. With other various functions of the council like facilitating the speedy appointment of the arbitrators through designated institutions by Supreme Court of India or the High Court.
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Confidentiality of all the arbitral proceedings except the award:
With the amendment act, new provision of imposing the duty of making confidentiality in the arbitration proceeding, like arbitrators and arbitral institutions, in India, except for the award. Bill will also protect arbitrators from further legal proceedings, for any action or omission done in the good faith during the course of proceedings.
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Speedy appointment of arbitrators:
In the case where parties were further in the need of requiring assistance in the proceedings and appointment of the arbitrator, they will now be allowed to approach this council, without approaching the court. This will help to less burden the working of court and would be taken care in an expeditious manner.
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Clarity on the application of Amendment Act:
Uncertainty was there about the existing arbitration and arbitration-related court proceeding that commenced before the enactment of the Amendment Act came into place. Various judgment of the high court has come into the conflicting views with a number of judgments. The new proposes clearly unless parties agree otherwise, the Act will not apply to arbitrary proceedings that have been commenced before the enactment of the Act come into effect.
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No time limit for international arbitration:
In the present law, the time limit for the issue of the award by the arbitrary tribunal, in the Amendment Act, has been specified with the timeline of twelve months. This provision was in a conflict where there was a modelled case of international arbitration, as the courts were to interfere for non- completion of the proceeding after the time period elapsed. This bill proposes the exclusion of international arbitration from the scope of strict timelines.
Aim for amending the bill:
The main objective or aim of making the various amendment for the bill, was to make the arbitration proceeding, more friendly, speedy disposal, cost-effective and boosting the confidence in this mechanism. However, seeing the recent judicial precedents worldwide and in order to boost institutional arbitration vis-a-vis ad hoc arbitration and to remove some practical difficulties in the applicability of the Amendment Act, the Government of India has proposed the said Bill.
How bill will address the current challenges in the system of the arbitration:
The bill has the potential to deal and pose one of the major problem and challenges during the implementation of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and further to that Amendment Act. At the same time, bill can also pose the challenge to the timeline as the reference period will start from the date of the completion of the pleading and not from the date of the reference of the arbitration.
Certain recommendations of the report which has still not been included in the bill are, creating special arbitration benches before various courts, recommendation on introducing International Bar Association Rules for the evidence procedure which could have effectively brought the uniformity in the rules for recording evidence in the proceedings.
With the huge impact, this bill aims to bring changes which is a positive progressive step in the direction of making, developing, boosting India as a hub for arbitration. Bill, expected to strengthen the framework for the institutional arbitration, through creating ACI and various other provisions that have been added.
Concluding with the hope that proposed change in the Amendment Act, through various recommendations of the report and present bill, the government will soon be able to make India an International hub for arbitration in furtherance to domestic and international arbitration, competing for the international standards available.
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