The Department of Legal Affairs under the Union Ministry of Law and Justice has directed all secretaries of the Government of India to furnish data on pending and closed arbitration matters involving the Union of India as a party.

As per a letter by Dr Rajiv Mani, Secretary of the Department, to all Government of India secretaries, the Department is in the process of considering further amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act to strengthen the country's arbitration ecosystem.

The letter highlights the government's involvement in various arbitration proceedings and related litigation, and has requested data from all government departments on arbitration cases since the year 2000.

The requested case-wise data includes, among other details, the value involved, the seat of arbitration, the number of advocates engaged along with their names, fees paid, and the fee structure.

Departments were to submit their data in the prescribed format by September 17.