CJI slams 'dismal' show of govt's arbitration centre

Lamenting that an avalanche of cases is putting the judicial system under stress, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur today pitched for revisiting legal framework to encourage arbitration and reforms in the existing government-run institution as it has performed "dismally".
He also lamented that India lacks proper institutions to hold arbitration proceedings, forcing people to approach "five star hotels and clubs" for the purpose.
Referring to government-run International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, he said in its two decades of existence, it has handled only 20 cases which talks of its "dismal performance".
"Domestic adjudication (of arbitration cases) has a great promise for litigants and overburdened courts...Courts are overburdened, judges are overworked...18000 judges handled 50 million cases and disposed of 20 million cases...An avalanche of cases is putting the judicial system under stress," Justice Thakur said here.

Referring to the epic Mahabharata, he said Lord Krishna tried to mediate between Kaurava and Pandava, but failed. "Even gods can fail in mediation, but that does not mean, it is not successful...Those who did not see reason were annihilated," he said in lighter vein.
Addressing an international conference on arbitration in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said there is a need to "revisit" the legal framework regarding arbitration awards.

The framework should "address and reduce prolongation in courts" once the arbitration award has been granted.
How judiciary will deal with arbitral award and the time courts take in deciding cases are arbitral award need to be looked into, the CJI said.

He said litigants and arbitrators prefer to go "to five star hotels and clubs to hold proceedings. Niti Bagh club here is a preferred choice as it provides facilities to hold such proceedings".
He said Singapore is a preferred arbitration hub not because it has an impressive building or provides translation facility, but because of its legal framework.
Justice Thakur said the criticism that courts interfere in arbitral awards is "not misplaced."
"I personally hold the view that once an award is made and it is challenged in the court, the first question the judge asks is 'who is the arbitrator'. This is because the judge wants to know whether the award is honest. There have been cases where the judges have faltered.

"But there is a general impression, and I think it is a well-founded impression, that when it comes to a judge working as an arbitrator, the court will presume that the arbitration award may suffer from any error as such but will not have any element of having being corrupted by any exterious consideration," he said.
"It is the job of the executive to formulate and execute,
the job of the legislator to legislate and the duty of the judiciary to interpret so that it becomes sacrosanct. How they have to work in symphony and harmony, is the job that the judiciary needs to find. That's how I think that our Constitutional governance must function," Prasad said.

The Chief Justice also spoke about an alternative redressal mechanism to reduce pendency of cases in various courts and said "we can deal with a little bit of our arrears if there is a re-look at litigations pending with us at all levels of all courts."
He said the national litigation policy was formulated by the government and it was expected that some kind of control would come around on the litigations that come from the government.
"Since the government is the largest stakeholder with us, obviously the consequences of failed litigations is largest for the government. So nobody can grudge the government for raising the claim.

"But it seems that we need a further look at it and I am sure that the government will consciously examine this issue", he said and suggested a mechanism where an independent agency, may be having some retired judges or eminent persons, to take a second call on whether to go for and appealor not.
"And if we can just reduce 10 per cent of these litigations, then we will be the long way ahead. Again, please don't take me wrong, it is not a matter of any criticism," he said.
The CJI said the judiciary was with the government "arm in arm" but pointed out that "it's a new world, it's a commercial world and the commercial world doesn't brook delays and when you (government) say we (courts) delay, I can't say we don't delay.

"We do delay but there are issues by which we can resolve these delays" and minimise them if matters are decided outside court by alternative modes, Justice Khehar said.
"Why should we not push mediation? In case of government dispute, why cant we choose option of mediation. As a try, may be we may succeed and may be we may not, but there is a great success of mediation in this country," he said.
In commercial world, arbitration has a big role to play. "We must have an international standard arbitral tribunal and our international centre for alternative dispute redressal is now moving forward," he said.

Justice Khehar said his predecessor Justice T S Thakur had taken charge of it so that people who came to India from abroad could "rely on us for arbitration in our country rather than us going to Singapore and Malaysia and the likes."
"I am happy to tell you that my discussion with the Union Law Minister on this have been very encouraging and he has expressed all support to us on this issue as well," the CJI said.