Committee on Making India Hub of Arbitration

• High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice B.N.Srikrishna has submitted its report to review the institutionalization of arbitration mechanism and suggest reforms thereto.

Recommendations made by the committee:

• Setting up an Autonomous Body, styled the Arbitration Promotion Council of India (APCI), having representatives from all stakeholders for grading arbitral institutions in India.
• The APCI may inter alia recognize professional institutes providing for accreditation of arbitrators
• The APCI may hold training workshops and interact with law firms and law schools to train advocates with interest in arbitration and with a goal to create a specialist arbitration bar comprising of advocates dedicated to the field.
• Creation of a specialist Arbitration Bench to deal with such Commercial disputes, in the domain of the Courts.
• Changes have been suggested in various provisions of the 2015 Amendments in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act with a view to make arbitration speedier and more efficacious and incorporate international best practices.
• The Committee are also of the opinion that the National Litigation Policy (NLP) must promote arbitration in Government Contracts.

Analysis:

• These reforms can result in a paradigm shift from the current perception of delay in resolution of commercial disputes in India to it being viewed as an investor friendly destination.
• The suggested reforms will not only lessen the burden of the judiciary, but give a fillip to the development agenda of the Government and aid the financial strength of the country and serve the goal of welfare of the citizens.
• These reforms aim to make India an international hub of Arbitration and a Centre of robust ADR mechanism catering to international and domestic arbitration, at par with international standards available.

By: Vishal