Monday, August 30, 2010

What Ails Arbitration In India

Infrastructure is core to the arbitration, mediation and conciliation services. Countries like Singapore have invested great in terms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) infrastructure.

India on the other hand is following an obsolete arbitration law in the form of arbitration and conciliation act 1996. Further, India has also not done much in the fields like international commercial arbitration and institutional arbitration.

Another area where India has miserably failed pertains to online dispute resolution (ODR). A special emphasis must also be given to construction industry arbitration in India as well as defence related arbitration issues. India urgently needs ADR and ODR related reforms.

On the positive side, the law ministry of India is planning to upgrade the ADR law of India. Similarly, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has also suggested use of ADR for resolving security related disputes.

Law minister Veerappa Moily has to take active steps in this direction as till now his declarations have been more like noises without actual implementation.