Bengal to get fast-track courts for industrial disputes

West Bengal will soon create a fast-track arbitration centre for the speedy redressal of grievances arising from private investments, a senior government official said here Saturday.

"We are shortly coming up with the Kolkata International Arbitration Centre (KIAC), where the arbitration officer would solve all disputes brought to his notice within nine months... this will speed up the industrial investment in the Bengal," principal secretary (Urban Development) Debashis Sen told mediapersons on the sidelines of an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here.

Sen said the state is suffering from lack of foreign investments primarily because grievances are not being addressed within a given timeline.

"Efforts were made to speed up the redressal process but no time frame was there previously. In practice, the disputes dragged on for years. Last month, the central government introduced an ordinance whereby the arbitrator would have to decide the case within nine months," he said.

India adopted the Arbitration and Conciliation Act in 1996 to resolve differences between disputing parties.

Sen said the state government has set up a consulting committee to expedite the process for the construction of KIAC.

"Tomorrow (Sunday) a team from Bengal is going to Delhi to discuss about KIAC with the centre," he said.

The centre, proposed to be set up in Rajarhat (15 km from here), will have all modern facilities including separate air-conditioned rooms for consulting and arbitration.