Parliament passes bill to rename arbitration centre

Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill to rename the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as the India International Arbitration Centre.

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which was piloted by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in the House.

The Lok Sabha has already passed the bill on August 2022, which expands this to include the conduct of other forms of alternative dispute resolution besides arbitration.

While replying to the debate in the Upper House, Rijiju said this bill will help India emerge as an attractive destination for arbitration.

''India is still not a hub for arbitration, while small countries and cities have emerged as major centres for arbitration because of certain reasons,'' the minister said.

He assured the members that India would emerge as an arbitration centre in the coming years with the steps being taken by the Modi government.

''This amendment has been brought with that approach,'' he said, adding presently corporate houses are preferring international places such as Singapore, London and Hong Kong for arbitration of commercial disputes.

After this initiative, there would be a change in the country, which is emerging as an economic power and would attract the global business community here for this.

''We can provide arbitration awards at more affordable charges in comparison to those centres,'' he said, adding that the government wants to start work in this direction as soon as possible.

According to the Law Minister, presently the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) is the most preferred place where 469 cases were referred last year, while 377 matters were referred to the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA).

''Even our own people go out of the country for arbitration, but if you would see from the perspective of number, 3,704 cases were referred last year to the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre, which is functioning under the supervision of the Delhi High Court,'' he said.

Though he also added that this number could be lesser in terms of business volume perspective. Rijiju further said it will be successful only after the people from India prefer it as seats for arbitration.

''We want to give confidence to the people who are going outside that you will get the right arbitral award here under our system. After that, we would invite people from foreign countries and for that, we would have to build trust,'' he said.

The minister also added that the country should have started working in this direction several years before, which was not done. In 2016, the prime minister announced self-reliance, where it was also envisaged to make India a global arbitration centre.

With that thought, the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre was established in 2019.

Referring to the success of SIAC, Rijiju said it has a locational advantage and has headquarter presence of big banks and MNCs beside an efficient infrastructure support from the government. ''It is governed under the common law jurisprudence system, the system of law under which India is also governed''.

''If Singapore has success (in arbitration) which is based on the common law jurisprudence system, then our country would also become,'' he said.

The minister also added that support of the judiciary is also required for its success. ''If an arbitral award is passed and could not get implemented as it is challenged before the court and then goes to higher courts, then no one would think to come to India.'' Rijiju also rejected the allegations that the government has brought this bill and procedure under the pressure of the World Bank and said, ''It is the government's considered opinion and decision to bring this bill.'' While replying to query over name change, Rijiju said important cities in India such as Mumbai and Kolkata have their own arbitration centres. Even in Delhi, another body Delhi Arbitration Center (DAC) is functioning, he said.

''It will not be good to have two arbitration centres having the same name of Delhi,'' he reasoned.

Initiating the debate on the bill, Vivek K Tankha (INC) supported the bill and said, ''We want India to emerge as an international arbitration centre. I have no reason to oppose. This is a welcome change.'' BJP member Sushil Kumar Modi too stressed the need for improving standard of the centre citing that Amazon Future arbitration case is going on in Singapore.

All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray said this government has come to know about change in the name of the centre after lapse of three years (since the Act came into existence in 2019).

DMK member P Wilson also supported the bill but pointed out that it puts Rs 2.5 lakh burden on the exchequer for running Parliament for a minute.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also supported the bill and suggested that the fees being charged by the arbitration centre be reduced.

BJD member Prashanta Nanda and YSRCP member V Vijayasai Reddy also supported the bill.

G K Vasan of TMC (M) asked the government to consider changing the name of Madrash High Court to Tamil Nadu High Court at the earliest. Vasan further said there is need to set up regional and zonal benches of the Supreme Court to mitigate the hardship felt by the litigants.

Binoy Viswam (CPI) criticised the government for bringing a bill ''just to change the name of the centre''.

Terming the bill ''irrational'', Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya of the CPI-M asked the government to withdraw it.

Nominated member Mahesh Jethmalani said the name change will have a pan-India image of the arbitration centre. ''Moreover, this bill will also cover all other alternate dispute resolution mechanisms besides arbitration''.

Ramji of BSP, RJD member Manoj Kumar Jha, Ram Nath Thakur of JD-U, M Thambidurai (AIDMK), Rakesh Sinha (BJP), Vandana Chavan (NCP), Ghanshyam Tiwari (BJP) and Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena) also participated in the debate.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)