Arbitration: A Mirage That Never Really Fructified

Adwait Pratap Sahi & Harsh Shekhar, New Law College, BVDU, Pune

ABSTRACT

The process of getting disputes resolved through litigation has become painstaking process both mentally and financially. The Indian judicial system has been struggling with mounting number of pending cases and a rusty mechanism of justice delivery. The onset of liberalisation, privatization and globalization in India catalysed the inflow of foreign direct investments and start-ups. A rise in commerce and cross-border trade was witnessed in India like never before. India didn’t look back from there. Since then, there has been an exponential rise in business transactions and contractual relationships which have led to increase in global recognition but this has also resulted in rise of commercial disputes. As a result, Arbitration gained popularity as a craft of swift civil dispute resolution. Owing to the benefits of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism, businesses have preferred arbitration over litigation and they insert an arbitration clause in their agreements. A rise in convoluted business models and structures have compelled the legislators to amend the existing set of legislations multiple times for better governance.

The amended legislations in place for governance of this dispute resolution practice still have some faults and contradictions that defeat the purpose of timely justice. Today, an outrageous amount of time and money are being spent for justice delivery through this mechanism. This paper aims to deal with the status of arbitration in India and the process of getting the disputes resolved through Arbitration. Furthermore, the authors also critically analyse the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and in furtherance attempt to picturize the future of arbitration in relation to economic development in the Indian context.

Keywords: Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, Alternative dispute resolution, International commercial arbitration, Arbitration agreements, Commercial disputes.