 "arbitration law")
The department of legal affairs has formed an expert committee led by former law secretary T K Vishwanathan to recommend reforms to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
The panel will have 15 other members.
“The prime reason of the exercise is guided with a view to reduce court intervention in the whole process to the minimum and make arbitration a truly party-driven process, cost-effective, and with time-bound finality being attached to the award,” the office memorandum issued by the law and justice ministry said.
The committee will to submit its recommendations to the government within a period of 30 days.
According to the memorandum, the exercise (of forming the panel) is to examine the working of the Act, suggest solutions to limit the requirement for
parties to seek judicial intervention by approaching the court, and address the issue of expeditious attribution of finality to the award.
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“It has, therefore, been decided to constitute a committee of experts, to inter alia examine the extant law as per the terms of reference and prepare a draft of the proposed amendments and make other recommendations to the government,” the memorandum said.
Other members of the panel include Additional Solicitor General N Venkatraman, Senior Advocates Gourub Banerji, AK Ganguli, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Partner Shardul Shroff, AZB Partners Partner Bahram Vakil, Advocate Saurav Agarwal, Additional Secretary of Department of Legal Affairs Rajiv Mani, representatives of NITI Aayog, Department of Public Enterprises/CPSEs, Confederation of Indian Industries, NHAI, MoRTH, Ministry of Railways, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs/CPWD, and Legislative Department.
The Chairperson of the committee may also co-opt other members, as felt necessary including identifying and utilising services of a law firm that may provide pro bono research service, the memorandum said. DK Singh, CCA, Department of Legal Affairs will act as Convener of the Committee.
The committee will evaluate and analyse the operation of the extant arbitration ecosystem in the country, including the working of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, highlighting its strengths, weaknesses, and challenges vis a vis other important foreign jurisdictions
The panel will also recommend a framework of a model arbitration system, devise a strategy for developing a competitive environment in the arbitration services market for domestic and international parties and build a regime of cost-effective arbitration.
The panel will also propose measures to fast-track enforcement of an award by suggesting modifications to existing provisions relating to setting aside of award and appeal so as to lend finality to arbitral award, expeditiously.
Other terms of reference for the panel include suggesting a statutory means to minimise reliance on judicial authorities/courts, as well as recommending administrative mechanism/SOP for minimising routine challenges to arbitral award by the Government in disputes involving them.
Other terms of reference for the panel include recommending principles for the determination of costs of arbitration, fees of arbitrators, and a charter of duties for the guidance of arbitral tribunal, parties, and arbitral institutions.
The panel will also examine the feasibility of enacting separate laws for domestic arbitration and international arbitration and for enforcement of certain foreign awards and recommend templates for model arbitration agreement for adoption by parties and model award for the guidance of arbitrators.
It will also suggest any other measures including the need for new legislation on arbitration in simple language and develop a handbook for Arbitrators to standardise their functions.
