A high level committee headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice B N Srikrishna set up to review the Institutionalization of Arbitration Mechanism, has submitted its recommendations to Union Law ministry.
About Justice B N Srikrishna committee on Institutionalization of Arbitration Mechanism:
The Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice, on January 13, 2017 constituted a ten Member, High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India, Justice B. N. Srikrishna.
- Suresh Chandra – Law Secretary, was the Member Secretary of the High Level Committee.
- Other members of the committee included Justice R.V.Raveendran – Retired Judge of Supreme Court of India, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat – Judge at High Court of Delhi, K.K.Venugopal – Sr. Advocate and presently Attorney General for India, P.S.Narasimha – Additional Solicitor General of India, Ms. Indu Malhotra – Senior Advocate at Supreme Court of India, Arghya Sengupta – Research Director at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Arun Chawla – Deputy Secretary General of FICCI and Vikkas Mohan – Senior Director of CII.
Key Recommendations of Justice B N Srikrishna committee on Institutionalization of Arbitration Mechanism:
To set up an autonomous body, Arbitration Promotion Council of India (APCI) having representatives from all stake holders to monitor the overall quality and performance of arbitral institutions in India. The APCI would recognise professional institutes providing for accreditation of arbitrators.
- Creation of a specialist Arbitration Bench to deal with commercial disputes, in the domain of the Courts.
- Changes have been suggested in various provisions of the 2015 Amendments in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act with a view to make arbitration speedier and more efficacious.
- The Committee members are also of the opinion that the National Litigation Policy (NLP) must promote arbitration in Government Contracts.
- Committee has also recommended for creation of the post of an ‘International Law Adviser’ (ILA) who shall advise the Government and coordinate dispute resolution strategy for the Government in disputes arising out of its international law obligations, particularly disputes in matters of Bilateral International Treaties (BITs).