India International Arbitration Centre does not function at the whims and fancies of Central government: Chairperson Justice Hemant Gupta

India International Arbitration Centre (IIAC) has government support but it does not run at the whims and fancies of the Central government, the IIAC Chairperson, Justice (Retired) Hemant Gupta said on Saturday..Justice Gupta assured some of the most prominent law firms that even though the IIAC is funded by the Central government, it will function without interference.“Government support is one thing and having an overbearing effect is another... SIAC [Singapore International Arbitration Centre] was also created as an Act of government… As far as our Centre is concerned, the three appointments have the similar procedure as Supreme Court judges. We don’t work at the whims and fancies of the government,” Gupta said..He was addressing the representatives of several law firms attending the ‘Indian Arbitration Leadership Roundtable’ organised by the IIAC.The IIAC is India’s first statutory international arbitration centre and an institution of ‘national importance’. The hosts said that they are making efforts to “design the IIAC as a hub for international arbitration and high-value domestic arbitrations on par and even beyond existing institutions of international repute”..The law firms pitched in with their ideas about some of the best practices adopted across the world. However, the major concern many of them raised was government interference.One of the representatives said that when he informed his foreign clients about the IIAC, their very first concern was that the Centre’s members are directly or indirectly appointed by the government which even has the power to remove them.Another representative said that a major share of arbitration in India is between private firms and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). In such cases, how certain we can be that the government will not try to influence the arbitrators, one of the participants asked.Justice Gupta responded that the Centre’s work will speak for itself. He said that the Central government does provide funds for the IIAC because, at present, the institution does not have its own funds.The same is the case with the Supreme Court but no one can say that the Court is not independent, he stressed“Take the example of the Supreme Court. Fund is provided by the government but even in your dreams you cannot say that it is government run… It is easy to say we [IIAC] is government run. But apart from appointing us, government has no role.”Gupta further reasoned that Section 18 of the India International Arbitration Centre Act does empower the government to remove the IIAC members but that process is like impeachment of a judge of the Supreme Court.“Yes, in a manner, the Supreme Court judge can be impeached. But, in 75 years of India, no judge has been successfully impeached. There have been two attempts (at impeachment of judges) but both failed,” he said. .Apart from the concern about government interference, Justice Gupta also stressed that the Centre will have to try to conclude the arbitration proceedings in a timely manner and technology will play a major role in it.He said that the parties can conduct the proceedings through video conference and the proceedings as well as the documents would be encrypted.Justice Gupta further said that they have held meetings with government authorities so that the government adopts the IIAC for its arbitration proceedings.He said that the empanelment for the arbitrators has begun and all the professionals, lawyers and experts should enrol with the IIAC. .The gathering was also informed that the IIAC has established a Chamber of Arbitration as per the IIAC Act. This chamber will scrutinize the applications for admission to the Panel of Arbitrators and empanel the arbitrators.It was stated that the Chamber will have two former judges of the Supreme Court of India, four senior advocates, one former bureaucrat, one bureaucrat of the Central government and two foreign lawyers.The judicial members appointed to the Chamber are Justice (Retd) AK Sikri and Justice (Retd) Indu Malhotra.Senior Advocates AK Ganguli, Ciccu Mukhopadhyay, Darius Khambata and Gourab Banerji along with former law secretary PK Malhotra and additional secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Dr Rajiv Mani are also the members of the chamber.The two foreign lawyers brought in are Salim Moolan KC of Barrister Brick Court Chambers and Sherina Petit, Partner & Head of India Practise, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP..The attendees to the even included Ashish Gupta (Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas), Anuradha Mukherjee and Omar Ahmad (Cyril Amarchan Mangaldas), Amar Gupta (J Sagar Associates), Yashwardhan (Saraf and Partners), Nakul Sachdeva (Luthra and Luthra), Dinesh Pardasani (DSK Legal), Anuradha Dutt, (DMD Advocates), Niti Dixit and Raunaq Bahadur Mathur (S&R Associates), Vikas Mahendra (Keystone Partners), Amrit Singh (Tuli and Co), Sumeet Kachwaha (Kachwala and Partners), Ranjit Prakash and Anshuman Pande (Archeus Law), Hiroo Advani (Advani Law LLP), Sameer Parekh and Sumit Goel (Parekh and Co), Divyakant Lahoti (Lahoti Advocates), Atul Sharma (Link Legal), Arjun Krishnan (Samvad Partners), Ganesh Chandru and LK Bhushan (Dua Associates), Sonal Kumar Singh (AKS Partners)Advocate Shashank Garg and Senior Advocates Gourabh Banerji, Prashanto Sen and Ritin Rai were also present at the conference.