Centre for marine arbitration centres in all coastal states

The union government is looking at a proposal to have arbitration centres for maritime disputes in all the coastal states, a top official said today.
"We have received a suggestion from the industry to set up ten arbitration centres across all the maritime states and are working on the idea. However, the idea is currently in a discussion stage only," Union Shipping Secretary Vishwapati Trivedi told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the Indian Council of Arbitration here today.
These centres will act as institutional arbitrators regulated by the maritime arbitration rules, and hence they will charge affordable fees, he said.

At present, in the absence of arbitration centres, the parties have to use the services of ad hoc arbitrators who charge a very high fee and take long to resolve the dispute, he said.
"In case of ad hoc arbitrator, they charge no less than Rs 5 lakh per hearing," said Trivedi.
The centres will have to be set up by the respective state governments which can provide the land; the ports too can set up such centres under CSR, he said.

Trivedi also said the Shipping Ministry has recommended ten archaic laws for repeal, as the NDA government has launched a drive to do away with dated regulations.

To encourage the shipping companies serving the country to fill fuel on the country's shores, Trivedi said a notification has been issued by the customs exempting duty on the fuel of those coastal vessels which carry Exim containers on the coast of India.
"This is going to be a major step in moving the trans-ship activities from Sri Lanka to India, he said.