Arbitration in India like an overloaded truck struggling up the hill: Justice Hrishikesh Roy

The state of arbitration in India is akin to an overloaded truck struggling up the hill since the process has become time consuming due to frequent adjournments and delays, Supreme Court judge Justice Hrishikesh Roy recently said.

Such a state of affairs is prevailing because arbitration in India is burdened with too many practicing lawyers who attend court full time and then take part in arbitration during their free time, he said.

Hence, there are frequent adjournments in arbitration proceedings which are often driven by part time arbitrators and lawyers juggling court appearances and arbitration hearings, he stated.

"Arbitration is no longer the sleek sports car that we once envisaged and instead it has become more like an overloaded truck struggling up the hill while we watch from behind wondering, 'wasn't it supposed to be faster?'," he said.

Justice Roy was delivering the keynote speech at the India ADR Week event in Delhi.

"We are slowly turning arbitration into what it was never meant to be. Just another formal process with more adjournments, more delays, more paperwork and less arbitration actually getting done," said the top court judge.

Justice Roy underscored that lawyers and judges have not only treated arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism but have also as a second calling after their regular court appearances.

"Attending in court is important, as it provides a degree of recognition amongst your peers and colleagues. But at the same time, unless we have committed bar members attending to arbitration in more or less in an exclusive fashion, the professionalism needed in the field of arbitration is unlikely to develop into a dynamic entity we all hope for," said the judge.

Justice Roy also said far too many retired judges are acting as arbitrators in India.

"Now, this is something which a friend told me. A fictional conversation between Sachin Tendulkar, who is the legendary cricketer and Roger Federer, who is the tennis legend. Now, Federer tells Sachin that India is the world's largest market for tennis balls and rackets. Sachin replies with affirmation and says that 'we love tennis but cricket is our first love'. Federer follows up and asks if Indians play cricket with tennis balls, Sachin says, 'yes' to which Federer ask, 'then what do you do with all the rackets?' Then Sachin Tendulkar replies, 'We connect batteries to the tennis rackets and kill mosquitoes with that'. I hope we don't do the same thing with arbitration and make it something else," said Justice Roy.