Arbitration space must shed tag of being old boys' club; provide equal opportunity to men, women and them: CJI DY Chandrachud

To move away from the tag of being an old boys' club, the arbitration space must provide equal opportunity to men, women and them, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said on Thursday. .The CJI was delivering the keynote address at the inaugural session of the Delhi Arbitration Weekend organised by the Delhi International Arbitration Centre (DIAC). In his speech, he emphasised on the importance of fostering diversity in the arbitration space. "The experiential learning which a gender-diverse arbitral pool would bring to the process must also be emphasised," he said. .While sharing his suggestions on how to improve the arbitration regime in India, the CJI said that parties must appoint lawyers as arbitrators more frequently, noting that sometimes, more promising candidates are overlooked in favour of more established names."Retired judges are doing amazing work in the arbitration space, but we cannot look only to retired judges while appointing arbitrators. There are more promising candidates who are overlooked in favour of a more established name, and this leads to the faulty perception that India does not have as many qualified arbitrators as it requires.".Further, he said that all stakeholders must work to ensure that arbitration does not remain the choice of dispute resolution only for parties with large commercial ventures. He called for small businesses as well as individuals to be encouraged to include arbitration clauses in their contracts. However, this would require the process to be more cost-effective, he said..In light of this, the CJI urged for incorporation of technology and virtual hearings in the arbitral process. "Due to virtual hearing, there is also lowering down of cost, easy to have arbitrators and parties join. Time taken to reach a venue is limited. I encourage the DIAC to draft a protocol on virtual arbitration proceedings which is tailored to the Indian context in mind," he suggested. .During his address, the CJI also shared that he was not a particular votary of the idea that all judicial intervention is negative. "While some of you may prefer a self-effacing judiciary as opposed to an interventionist one in this area, I believe courts ought to play an important role in assuring an effective arbitration ecosystem by stepping in to protect independence and impartiality of the process."He added that courts can and do serve as effective supporters of the arbitration universe, and went on to say that the least of those interventions is to ensure that when the State, as the largest litigant, enters arbitration, it must abide by the letter of the law as well as the spirit of arbitration. .Speaking on the topic of party autonomy, the CJI pointed out that in the last few years, the Supreme Court had been emphasising on the same, since it was the core of arbitration. However, he highlighted the importance of institutional arbitration in this regard."But, let me sound a word of caution. Party autonomy is not co-extensive with arbitral anarchy, which goes to highlight the importance of institutional arbitration. Unregulated adjudication, whether in private or public space, has potential to lead to high costs and unacceptable procedures. Regulation is the key to efficient, objective and well-defined processes.".During today's session, Delhi High Court Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma highlighted that dispute resolution was not the discovery of this century and had roots in ancient times when village councils used to resolve disputes. "Foundation then was trust and now too is trust on arbitration and the process", he said..Further, Justice Vibhu Bakhru said that the new rules of the Delhi International Arbitration Centre included a scrutiny of the draft award and will improve quality of awards emanating from the centre. .[Read our live-coverage of the event here]