Bill for international arbitration centre tabled in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI : The government on Friday tabled a bill in the Lok Sabha to set up an international arbitration (or dispute resolution) centre in what would be the first step towards making India an international hub for institutional arbitration in the East, after Singapore and Hong Kong.

The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC) Bill, 2018, envisages the creation of the NDIAC as “an institution of national importance” and setting up of Arbitration Academy and Chamber of Arbitration to create an ecosystem for international arbitration in the country.

The government aims to make India an attractive business destination and improve its ease of doing business rankings, a law ministry official privy to the process of drafting the bill said.

The bill states that the Inter- national Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR), which works under the aegis of the Supreme Court, has not been able to actively engage and embrace developments in the arbitration ecosystem.

The proposed body, if cleared, will take over the ICADR, set up in 1996, and the infrastructure allotted to it. The Chief Justice of India is ICADR’S ex-officio chairperson, while former law minister HR Bhardwaj is its patron.

The proposed NDIAC would be headed by a former judge of the SC or a high court or an eminent person “with the knowledge and experience in the conduct or administration of arbitration” appointed by the Centre in consultation with the CJI.

The proposed law is based on the recommendations of the Justice BN Srikrishna committee, which was set up by the ministry and had submitted its report in August last year.