The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari
has said that arbitration process in India has evolved over the years and now
offer a useful and speedy tool for resolution of disputes that saves both the
court's and the litigants’ time. He was addressing, here today, the inaugural
session of a two-day Conference on Dispute Management in Infrastructure
Projects - New Challenges, organized by the Indian Institute of Technical
Arbitration, Delhi State Centre. The President of Indian Institute of Technical
Arbitrators, Shri R.P. Seshadri, the Spl. Director General, Central Public
Works Department (CPWD), Shri N.L. Singh and other dignitaries were present on
the occasion.
Recalling its achievements, the Vice President said
that the CPWD today is a multifaceted infrastructure construction and
maintenance Agency with some of the best construction engineering,
architectural and horticultural capabilities.
The Vice President said that arbitration is
considered an efficient alternative to litigation because it is quicker, less
expensive, and provides greater flexibility of process and procedure. The
parties often select the arbitrator and exercise control over certain aspects
of the arbitration procedure, he added.
The Vice President said that arbitrators also bring
domain expertise to the specific subject matter of the dispute, providing for a
more efficient and quicker process. The renovated Arbitration Act of 2015 has
further sanctified the arbitration process by granting even more finality to
the arbitral award, he added.
Following is the text of Vice
President’s address:
“The Director General
has requested me to inaugurate a conference on a subject about which I know
next to nothing. I am nevertheless grateful to him for inviting me today.
A department of public works, anywhere and in any
period of history, has been an essential part of governance systems. It is
difficult to visualise that edifices like the Meenakshi Temple, the Taj Mahal
or the Red Fort or innumerable other iconic structures could have been built
without a body of persons designated to translate the visions of the rulers
into visible reality.
The Central Public Works Department, or the CPWD, as
the principal Public Works Organisation of the Government of India has had a
long and interesting history since its inception in July 1854 as the Ajmer
Central Division for colonial works.
The city of New Delhi, as we see it, as well as the
buildings in Imperial Shimla and other prestigious buildings like Mayo College
Ajmer, can largely be credited to the works of CPWD. This has been true, with
greater intensity and diversity, of the period after Independence.
The CPWD today is a multifaceted infrastructure
construction and maintenance Agency with some of the best construction
engineering, architectural and horticultural capabilities. It is the main
agency entrusted with the largest, most prestigious and most difficult
construction works.
The average citizen, however, sees only the end
product. Little does he know that the execution of complex infrastructure
projects involves a multitude of stakeholders and vendors, occurrence of
disputes, despite careful planning and risk assessment, is but natural.
It was Mahatma Gandhi who said that "Differences
we shall always have but we must settle them all, whether religious or other,
by arbitration."
Our legal framework provides for lawsuits and trials
as the legal method for resolving disputes. However, concerns about court
congestion and delays, rising litigation costs, and the negative psychological
and emotional impact of litigation have led to search for alternative methods.
Arbitration is one of the preferred alternative
dispute resolution processes and is finding increasing use in both the private
and public sector.
Arbitration is often understood as a process where
the disputing parties present their case to a neutral third party, who renders
a decision. It is considered an efficient alternative to litigation because it
is quicker, less expensive, and provides greater flexibility of process and
procedure. The parties often select the arbitrator and exercise control over
certain aspects of the arbitration procedure. Arbitrators also bring domain
expertise to the specific subject matter of the dispute, providing for a more
efficient and quicker process. Such domain skills are particularly useful in
cases involving technical arbitration.
Nor is this an innovation of modern times. Evidence
of commercial arbitration has been found in all periods of history. In India,
mediation and arbitration have enjoyed respectable place as a means of
resolving disputes since the Vedic times.
The first modern arbitration law in India, however,
was enacted as early as 1772 in form of the Bengal Regulation Act of 1772. It
was updated in 1940, and again through the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,
enacted in 1996. Aimed at reducing the excessive workload on our courts, the
Act streamlined the arbitration process. It provided for enforcement of the
arbitral awards with the same force as a court decree, in order to provide for
speedy solution to disputes. The Legislation covered both international and
domestic commercial arbitration and conciliation. The renovated Arbitration Act
of 2015 has further sanctified the arbitration process by granting even more
finality to the arbitral award.
There is much demand today for an internationally
proven and judicially supported private method of civil dispute resolution, and
arbitration is increasingly being seen as a crucial element in functioning of
market economies.
Arbitration process in India has evolved over the
years and now offer a useful and speedy tool for resolution of disputes that
saves both the court's and the litigants’ time. It has provided the business
and private citizens with an approachable alternative to litigation. However,
for arbitration to become a widely accepted practice, arbitration needs to be
based on judicious application of law and fair and just treatment of the facts.
In short, the quality of arbitrators will determine the credibility of the
process.
For business dispute resolution, it is becoming ever
popular for the advantages it brings. While the Courts provide a public forum
for dispute resolution, arbitration, and mediation, allow for the private
resolution of disputes away from media attention and with confidentiality
I am sanguine that the deliberations that would take
place in this conference would enrich the participants and generate the novel
ideas that can be utilised for betterment of the field of arbitration.
Thank You.
Jai Hind.”
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KSD/BK