The corporate world is a dynamic field involving huge transactions every day. Among these transactions many of them result in dispute and conflict of interest.  As mentioned, the nature and exigencies of these transactions make it very difficult to get it executed and resolved through the court of law with the usual time consuming procedures of the court.

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 paved the way for speedy process of dispute resolution through arbitration and conciliation which ultimately leads to quick enforcement of contract, easy recovery of money claims.

To keep with the changes and meet the business exigencies The Arbitration and Conciliation Act was amended in 2015. The objective of the amendment was the expediency and transparency in Arbitrary proceedings and gave clarification on many aspects which were earlier filled by judicial interpretation. The current Amendment in the Act is to further simplify and expedite the procedure.

The recent Amendment recommends the establishment of an Arbitration Council which will take measures necessary to promote and encourage arbitration, mediation, conciliation or other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in India. It is also empowered to frame policy and guidelines for the establishment, operation and maintenance of uniform professional standards in respect of all matters relating to arbitration. The Council shall function under the Chairmanship of the Chief Justice of India and have its head office at Delhi.

Section 3(A) added to Section11. The Supreme Court and the High Court shall have the power to designate, arbitral institutions, from time to time, which have been graded by the Council under section 43-I, for the purposes of this Act:

Provided that in respect of those High Court jurisdictions, where no graded arbitral institution are available, then, the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court may maintain a panel of arbitrators for discharging the functions and duties of arbitral institution and any reference to the arbitrator shall be deemed to be an arbitral institution for the purposes of this section and the arbitrator appointed by a party shall be entitled to such fee at the rate as specified in the Fourth Schedule:

Provided further that, the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court may, from time to time, review the panel of arbitrators.

The Amendment mandates that the statement of claim and defense shall be completed within a period of six months from the date the arbitrator or all the arbitrators receive notice, in writing, of their appointment.

Under the Act only following persons are qualified to be Arbitrator:-

• Practicing Advocate
• Chartered Accountant having ten years of active practice
• Cost Accountant having ten years of active practice
• Company Secretary having ten years of active practice
• Officer of the Indian Legal Service

Law graduate or Engineering Graduate working as an officer under Government, Autonomous Body, Public Sector Undertaking or at a senior level managerial position in the private sector.

An officer having senior level experience of administration in the Central Government or State Government or having experience of senior level management of a Public Sector Undertaking or a Government company or a private company of repute.

Any graduate having ten years of experience in scientific or technical stream in the fields of telecom, information technology, Intellectual Property Rights or other specialized areas in the Government, Autonomous Body, Public Sector Undertaking or a senior level managerial position in a private sector.