Appellate Arbitration In India: Comparing With Global Perspectives
- IJLLR Journal
- Mar 13
- 2 min read
Abhishek R Shenoy, BBA LLB, School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
ABSTRACT
Arbitration is characterised by party autonomy, confidentiality, and the finality of awards, with judicial review remaining broadly restricted. Yet in India, judicial intervention and the growing complexity of disputes have revealed deficiencies in error-correction and weakened the legitimacy of the arbitral process. This paper examines India’s Draft Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which for the first time proposes the creation of Appellate Arbitral Tribunals (AATs) under Section 34A, thereby institutionalising a statutory two-tier arbitral framework.
The novelty of this development lies in shifting the corrective function from courts to specialised arbitral forums, a move distinct from both the judicial avenue to set aside under Section 34 and the contractual two-tier mechanisms upheld in Centrotrade v. Hindustan Copper Ltd.. Contemporary literature has explored contractual models of arbitral appeals, with little scholarship on statutory arbitral appellate mechanisms, leaving an important gap in understanding how legislated error-correction may reshape arbitral practice. This is due to the speculative nature of only a proposed amendment. This paper addresses that gap by analysing Section 34A as a doctrinal shift that codifies appellate arbitration as a systemic feature, confined to grounds such as fraud, bias, excess of jurisdiction, and public policy.
Through comparative insights from the U.S., U.K., and Singapore, the paper situates India’s reform within global debates on the tension between finality and correctness. It argues that AATs represent a novel institutional experiment, with the potential to enhance coherence and predictability while risking replication of litigation’s inefficiencies if not procedurally disciplined.
Keywords: Arbitration, Appellate Arbitral Tribunals, Section 34A, Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, Draft Arbitration Bill 2024, judicial review
