Cabinet okays ordinance to allow govt take over functions of arbitration centre

The Union Cabinet Thursday approved an ordinance to allow the government take over the functioning of an arbitration centre here as the body has not been able to actively engage and embrace developments in the arbitration ecosystem.

A bill to this effect was passed by Lok Sabha in January this year, but could not be passed in Rajya Sabha.

With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha on June 3, the bill is set to lapse.

The ordinance also proposes to set up the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre to establish an independent and autonomous regime for institutionalised arbitration and for acquisition and transfer of undertakings of the International Centre of Alternative Resolution.

The government has said that 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.