The Government of India has emphasised the need for promoting arbitration as a preferred dispute resolution mechanism for commercial disputes. Pursuant to this, a High Level Committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Mr. Justice B N Srikrishna, Retired Judge, Supreme Court on 29th December 2016 to review the institutionalisation of arbitration mechanism in India and submit a report. The Committee has prepared a Working Paper, which is available on the website of the Ministry of Law and Justice at http://legalaffairs.gov.in/admin3.
The Working Paper seeks to ask some important questions as to how to make India as a hub for institutional arbitration. The Paper also attempts to review why several existing arbitral institutions in India are not functioning effectively. For this purpose, the Committee has prepared two questionnaires addressed to (a) arbitral institutions in India; and (b) stakeholders in arbitration such as parties, their in-house counsel, lawyers and arbitrators. The questionnaires constitute Annexures 1 and 2 to the Paper. Further, the Paper studies some of the most popular arbitral institutions worldwide in order to identify international best practices. On this basis, the paper identifies areas for reform in the Indian arbitration landscape.
The Committee invites public comments on suggestions made in this Working Paper as well as any other suggestions on strengthening institutional arbitration in India. All responses should be limited to 25 typed pages. The comments may be submitted by email to hlcarbitration@gmail.com on or before 7th April 2017. Further, all existing arbitral institutions in India are requested to complete the questionnaire annexed as Annexure 1 to this Working Paper and email the completed questionnaire to hlcarbitration@gmail.com on or before 7th April 2017. Alternatively, the questionnaire can be filled as a Google form at this link. All parties, in-house counsel, lawyers and arbitrators are requested to complete the questionnaire annexed as Annexure 2 to this Working Paper and email the completed questionnaire to hlcarbitration@gmail.com on or before 7 April 2017. Alternatively, the questionnaire can be filled as a Google form at this link.
Ministry of Law & Justice
