Comments sought on working paper of high level committee to review Institutionalization of Arbitration Mechanism in India

New Delhi, Mar 17 (KNN) Keeping in view the need for promoting arbitration as a preferred dispute resolution mechanism for commercial disputes, a High Level Committee has been constituted to review the institutionalization of arbitration mechanism in India and submit a report.

The Committee is being headed by Justice B N Srikrishna, Retired Judge, Supreme Court. It was constituted on 29th December 2016.

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,” Ministry of Law & Justice said in a release.

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 has sought 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,” said the Ministry.