Bill to set up global arbitration centre introduced in LS

A bill to set up a new international arbitration centre here to replace and take over the undertakings of its present 'avatar' - the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution which works under the aegis of the Supreme Court, was introduced in the Lok Sabha today.
The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre bill, introduced by Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary, says the centre will be an institution of national importance and work for developing mechanism of international arbitration in the country.
The bill said the International 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 new body will take over the undertakings of the ICADR which was set up in 1995. The Chief Justice of India is the ex-officio chairperson of the ICADR, while former law minister H R Bhardwaj is the patron of the institution.
According to the bill, with a view to promote institutional arbitration and make India a hub of international arbitration, a high-level committee headed by Justice B N Srikrishna, a former Supreme Court judge, was constituted to identify the roadblocks in the development of institutional arbitration.
The committee had recommended that ICADR should be taken over with complete revamp of its governance structure to include only experts of repute who can lend credibility and respectability to the institution and be re-branded as a centre of national importance to highlight its character as a flagship arbitral institution.