Arbitration & Conciliation

The legal framework surrounding Arbitration in India has witnessed a paradigm shift in recent years. The Amendment Act of 2015 amended the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 to make the process of arbitration friendly to the parties by making it inexpensive. The focus was also on swift disposal of the cases and ensuring the neutrality of the arbitrator. An urgent need was felt to promote institutionalized ADR process and also to get rid of the practical hurdles in applying the 2015 Amendment Act. With this backdrop, the Government of India again brought an Amending Act in 2019.

It has three-fold objectives: firstly, to address the issues arising out of 2015 Amendment Act; secondly, to reduce the judicial intervention in arbitration process and lastly to streamline the Indian Arbitration Regime. The basic theme of the 2019 amendment is to re-structure, re-organize and re-enforce the institutional arbitration by launching an independent body that promotes ADR in India. On 11th March, 2021, the Central Government has notified the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2021. The Amendment Act of 2021 amends Sections 36 (Enforcement) and 43-J (Norms for accreditation) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. This Amendment Act also omits the Eighth Schedule of the Arbitration Act, which deals with qualifications and experience of arbitrators.

The present book incorporates all the recent amendments made by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2021 in the existing law. The content has been simplified and expanded with a special thrust on latest cases and updated information making the book more relevant.

Preliminary
Part I: Arbitration
Part II: Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards
Part III: Conciliation
Part IV: Finality and Enforcement of Awards
Part V: Miscellaneous Schedule