- The central government on January 5, 2018 tabled ‘The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC) Bill, 2018’ in the Lok Sabha to set up an international arbitration (or dispute resolution) centre in New Delhi.
- This initiative is the first step towards making India an ‘international hub for institutional arbitration in the East’, after Singapore and Hong Kong.
- Through this Bill, NDIAC will be created as “an institution of national importance” and Arbitration Academy and Chamber of Arbitration will be set up to create an ecosystem for international arbitration in the country.
- By setting up this centre, the government’s target is to make India an attractive business destination and improve world banks’s ease of doing business rankings.
- The proposed NDIAC would be headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court or a high court or an eminent person ‘with the knowledge and experience in the conduct or administration of arbitration. The chairperson will be appointed by the Centre in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
- The proposed bill is based on the recommendations of the Justice BN Srikrishna committee, which was set up by the Law ministry and had it had submitted its report in August 2017.
- The proposed institution will take over the ICADR, set up in 1996, and the infrastructure allotted to it.
- India has already an institution called International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR), which works under the aegis of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of India is ICADR’s ex-officio chairperson, while former law minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj is its patron. But according to the tabled bill, this institution has not been able to actively engage and embrace developments in the arbitration ecosystem.
- The proposed NDIAC would be headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court or a high court or an eminent person ‘with the knowledge and experience in the conduct or administration of arbitration. The chairperson will be appointed by the Centre in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
