Expert Committee On Arbitration Law Proposes Complete Overhaul Of Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996

The Expert Committee on Arbitration Law, formed on June 12, 2023, to assess the functionality of the Arbitration Law in the country and propose reforms to the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996, has released its long-awaited report. Key highlights of the report include a comprehensive analysis of the current arbitration law, detailed recommendations for reform, and the presentation of a draft Bill designed to implement the proposed changes. Additionally, an Explanatory Memorandum is included in the report to elucidate the provisions of the Bill. Members of the Committee: 1.Dr. T. K. Viswanathan Former Secretary General, Lok Sabha Parliament of India (Chairman)2.N. Venkatraman, Senior Advocate3.Gourab Banerji, Senior Advocate4.A.K. Ganguli, Senior Advocate5.Dr. Shardul Shroff, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.6.Bahram Vakil, AZB & Partners7.Dr. Rajiv Mani Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice and holding additional charge as Law Secretary, Legal Affairs8.R. Sreenivas Joint Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice and Law Secretary9.Shreyas Jayasimha, Aarna Law10.Saurav Agarwal, Advocate11.Vyom Shah, Advocate12.CEO, Niti Aayog13.President, CII14.Chairman, NHAI/ Secretary, MoRTH15.Secretary, Ministry of Railways16.Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs17.Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises/ CPSEs18.Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs/ DG, CPWD Some recommendations made by the Committee: Amendment To The Preamble And The Short Title Of The Arbitration And Conciliation Act 1996 Amendment (i)of the Long Title and Short Title (ii)in the Preamble (iii)in subsection (1) of section 1 to omit the words “and conciliation”. Replacement Of “Place” With “Seat” Or “Venue” In The Act. a.Amendment of section 20(3) by substituting the word “place” with the word “venue”;b.Amendment of sections 2(2), 20(1), 20(2), 28(1) and 31(4) by substituting the word “place” with the word “seat”. Amendment To The Definition Of 'Court' Having Regard To The Amendment Relating To The Seat Of The Arbitration Insertion of new section 2A to provide a definition of Court in the following terms-: (i)Courts means the Court first and foremost having jurisdiction over the seat of the arbitration and only if such seat is not determined then having jurisdiction over the subject matter of the arbitration; (ii)(ii) To make a consequential amendment to section 42; (iii)(iii) to further incentivise institutional arbitration, it is proposed that for arbitrations having a Specified Value of Rs. 50 crores or higher, the Court under section 2(1)(e) will be the jurisdictional High Court, having original jurisdiction or jurisdiction to hear appeals from subordinate Courts over the seat of the arbitration and if no seat has been determined, then the Court having jurisdiction over the subject matter of arbitration; (iv)(iv) it is proposed to provide in the definition that the Specified Value will be calculated on the basis of principles specified in section 12 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Administrative Assistance By Techno-Legal Utilities (i) amendment to section 6 to include Techno Legal Utilities as a suitable institution to provide administrative assistance;(ii)Insertion of new Section 6A –to provide for 'Techno-Legal Utilities', which provide techno-legal services to ad hoc as well as to institutional arbitrations. TechnoLegal services include, but are not limited to, secure online platforms for efficient document sharing, technological support for transcription, recordings and virtual hearings and cybersecurity measures.(iii)Insertion of new section 6B for regulating the functioning of the Techno-Legal Utility and providing for such Techno-Legal Utilities to be serviced by a registry with properly delineated functions. Validation Of Insufficiently Stamped Or Not Duly Stamped Arbitration Agreement (i)To insert a new section 7A to provide that notwithstanding any judgment, decree or order of any Court or anything contained in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, or any other law in force, an arbitration agreement not duly stamped or insufficiently stamped shall be admitted in evidence and shall be acted upon by any Court, an arbitral tribunal, or any other judicial authority for the purposes of the Act and the arbitral tribunal shall direct a party to pay the requisite stamp duty at an appropriate stage.(ii)To provide in section 9 of the Amending Act a validation clause to provide that section 7A in the principal Act shall be deemed always to have been in force at all material times with effect from 22nd August 1996 and accordingly no suit or other proceedings shall be initiated, maintained or continued in any Court, tribunal or other authority challenging the appointment of...

Expert Committee On Arbitration Law Proposes Complete Overhaul Of Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996

Rajesh Kumar

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