Parliament passes bill to amend Arbitration Act

The Parliament on Thursday passed a bill that provides for the speedy appointment of arbitrators through designated institutions and seeks to create an independent body to grade arbitral institutions.

Replying to the debate on the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 for passage in the House, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad that bill was an effort towards making India an international centre of arbitration.

He said there must be stability in law and said he was making an appeal to judiciary.

"Judiciary should also be consistent as far as arbitration is concerned," he said.

The bill, which seeks to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, had early been passed in Rajya Sabha.

Prasad said the government was keen to encourage institutional arbitration for settlement of disputes and make India a centre of robust Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism.

The bill seeks to facilitate speedy appointment of arbitrators through designated arbitral institutions by the Supreme Court or the High Court without having any requirement to approach the court in this regard.

It envisages that parties may directly approach arbitral institutions designated by the Supreme Court for International Commercial arbitration and in other cases the concerned High Courts.