Dearth of data on arbitration roadblock to frame policy: Justice Rajesh Bindal

Supreme Court judge Justice Rajesh Bindal on Saturday said there is a dearth in data on arbitration in India which is a major roadblock to framing effective policies on arbitration.

Justice Bindal also highlighted that there is currently no onus on arbitral institutions to maintain any data on number of arbitrations being conducted by them.

"We do not have data about arbitration that is going on in India at the moment. We cannot have policies unless we have data. If we have data, then we can plan properly. Then comes (the question of) who will keep record of the data. There is no responsibility on the institution to maintain data as well," the judge said.

Justice Bindal was speaking at the First Supreme Court Advocates on Record Internal Legal Conference being held in Goa from October 19 to 20.

Justice Bindal stated that judicial interference at the level of execution of award needs to be reduced.

Towards this end, he suggested that a "clause can also be thought of that an arbitrator will be appointed by the institution only".

"The Act of Singapore says that in matters of default the matter will go to the institution. Same can be thought here as well," he said.

He also called for a separate bar for arbitration.

"There also needs to be a separate arbitration bar. A lot of tribunals were created earlier and earlier High Court bar used to be in charge and now the (concerned tribunal) has separate bar," Justice Bindal pointed out.

Justice Bindal further added that if some statutory or financial support is given to arbitration institutions, then a lot of international litigation will come to India.

[Track our live thread here]