JUNE 17, 2020: The National highways authority of India (NHAI) has settled arbitration claims worth over Rs 13,000 crore through conciliation since FY 18 as it moves aggressively to reduce its liabilities through an out-of-court settlement. NHAI has constituted three Conciliation Committees of independent experts (CCIE) of three members each, which are headed by retired officials from the judiciary, senior experts from public administration, finance and the private sector.

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Raise All Disputes over the Contract before the Single Tribunal: Delhi High Court

June 23, 2020: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ruled that all disputes over a contract, as far as possible, must be raised together before a single tribunal and multiple tribunals must be shunned. “All disputes that are in existence when the arbitration clause is invoked, ought to be raised and referred at one go,” Judge Pratibha M. Singh said. Any subsequent disputes must be referred to the same tribunal if it was still in existence.

LEGAL DISCOURSE 

ET Q&A:‘Foreign arbitrators must be allowed to be stationed in India’

If India needs to become an international hub for arbitration, then the country needs to allow foreign arbitrators to represent matters related to foreign parties, senior counsel Arvind Datar tells Satish John & Maulik Vyas. If India needs to become an international hub for arbitration, then the country needs to allow foreign arbitrators to represent matters related to foreign parties, senior counsel Arvind Datar tells Satish John & Maulik Vyas. International finance centres such as New York, London, Singapore and Dubai have a robust arbitration culture and India needs to learn from these places, he says.

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Mediation in India in the Age of COVID-19

We live in strange times. Old certainties have given way to new uncertainties. Down the ages, Lady Justice, sword in one hand and eyes blindfolded have been pretty much like the Rock of Gibraltar, ensuring stability, but also being resistant to change. One bug christened COVID-19 comes along and the Lady is reeling. At the heart of the adversarial system is advocacy performed in an open setting, in the full gaze of clients and fellow lawyers, and that has dictated modes of thought and approach and behaviour, all integral to the system. Justice must not only seem to be done, but judges must also be seen while they are engaged in the task of doing it. But the presence in numbers necessitates proximity, and now proximity spells danger. Deprived of their natural setting of the courtroom, judges and lawyers have fallen back to talk of virtual courts, so that the bare essential is achieved — the judge being able to hear the particular lawyer. All other features of the courtroom are eschewed, and thus an essentially public setting is converted to a closed-door one. It is and will remain, unsatisfactory.

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