High Court Test 18
10 min40 WPM required421 words
Click on the passage and start typing to begin.
Arbitration has emerged as the preferred mode of resolving commercial disputes in India, offering parties the advantages of party autonomy in the selection of arbitrators and the procedural rules, confidentiality of proceedings, finality of awards, and international enforceability under the New York Convention. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 consolidated and updated the pre-existing arbitration law in India, incorporating the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration for international arbitrations and the UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules for conciliation proceedings, and has been amended several times — in 2015, 2019, and 2021 — to address concerns about delays, judicial interference, and the attractiveness of India as a seat of arbitration. An arbitration agreement is the foundation of the entire arbitration process, conferring on the arbitral tribunal its jurisdiction and binding the parties to submit their disputes to arbitration rather than to the ordinary courts. The agreement must be in writing and may be contained in a separate agreement or in an arbitration clause within a contract, and the principle of separability ensures that the arbitration clause survives the invalidity, termination, or breach of the main contract. The composition of the arbitral tribunal, the number of arbitrators, the qualifications required, and the procedure for appointment are generally determined by the agreement of the parties; where parties fail to agree, the default rules of the Act and, for institutional arbitrations, the rules of the arbitral institution apply. The Supreme Court and High Courts retain a supervisory jurisdiction over arbitrations, exercisable primarily at the stage of appointment of arbitrators, before the commencement of arbitration for interim measures, and at the stage of challenge to the award. The grounds on which an arbitral award may be set aside by a court are limited — patent illegality in the case of domestic awards, and violation of public policy in both domestic and international cases — reflecting the policy of minimal judicial interference in the arbitration process. The enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in India is governed by Part II of the Act, which gives effect to the New York Convention and the Geneva Convention, and enforcement will be refused only on specified grounds including incapacity of parties, invalidity of the agreement, lack of proper notice, the award dealing with matters beyond the scope of submission, and violation of Indian public policy. India has taken significant steps to promote institutional arbitration through the establishment of the Arbitration Council of India and the grading of arbitral institutions, with the aim of developing India as a hub for international commercial arbitration.