ARBITRATION AS A PRACTICE:
As the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill, 2018 has already been approved by the Lower house and pending with the Upper house, there are some critical questions are underlying which must be addressed by the Government keeping in view of the growing digital and sharing economy leading to Foreign Direct Investment in the country nevertheless the amendment in Arbitration is the need of the hour for speedy resolution and the government is trying to do that.
At the very outset, I would try to reflect upon some basic need of the Act and then I will discuss salient features of the Arbitration and Conciliation bill 2018.
In the era of Digital Transformation, India is doing well as it jumps to 23 positions in the ease of doing business index as per the Doing Business Report, 2019 by World Bank.
Ease of doing business index, https://tradingeconomics.com/india/ease-of-doing-business, which has improved the rank to 77th position against its rank of 100th in 2017, was difficult to dream so far nevertheless yet driving vision towards the same has successfully taken us to the leading position as compared to 2017. This rank came up among the 190 countries across the world and the assessment has been done by the World Bank.
Now it is clear that we, the Indian, need the proper dispute resolution system which should be speedy, transparent and cost-effective and the same attracts the investors to invest in the businesses from various part of the world and domestic Indian investors too however the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been amended in 2015 and added new sections which have positively impacted the Dispute Resolution System in the country.
Inline with our move to make dispute resolution system better, New Delhi International Arbitration Center (DIAC) Bill has been passed which clearly indicates the way India is trying to make dispute resolution system better day by day. We already have institutions like Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA), Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi and International Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR), New Delhi and Mumbai Center for International Arbitration (MCIA), Mumbai, Nani Palkhiwala Arbitration Center (NPAC), Banglore, etc.
Now, When it comes to Dispute Resolution System then the following three mechanisms are there in place yet it needs betterment in the same:
1. Arbitration (Institutional, Ad-hoc and Emergency (In the 2018 bill))
2. Mediation (Courts have Mediation centers)
3. Conciliation (Conciliation proceedings happens prior to Arbitration)
Link for Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015:
https://www.manupatrafast.in/NewsletterArchives/listing/ILU%20RSP/2015/Dec/Highlights%20of%20Amendment%20to%20the%20Arbitration%20and%20Conciliation%20Act%201996%20via%20Arbitration%20Ordinance%202015.pdf
Link for Arbitration & Conciliation Bill 2018:
Salient features of Arbitration and Conciliation bill 2018:
- The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 was introduced in Lok Sabha on dated 18/07/2018 and passed by Lower house on dated 10/08/2018.
- Now the bill is pending with Upper house to become the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2018
- The Act deals with Indian and International arbitration and has amended the sections pertaining to the same in order to set up speedy and robust Arbitration and conciliation proceedings.
Key features of the Bill are given under this Link :
Sir you have rightly mentioned about the Indian institutions which are aligned with arbitration practice! We need more people like you in this field who have practical knowledge of the working of arbitration practice and who are aware of current practice and norms! Sir Please put more information about this emerging field .
ReplyDelete