Lok Sabha Question No. 264 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-03
Subject: Arbitration Law
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Raja Amareshwara Naik, Sukanta Majumdar, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Bhola Singh, Nisith Pramanik, Jayanta Kumar Roy

## MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ****

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.264 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 3 rd  February, 2021

## ARBITRATION LAW

264. SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO:

SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

SHRI BHOLA SINGH:

SHRI NISITH PRAMANIK:

DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government as part of its push to improve India's ranking in  the  ease  of  doing  business,  also  brought  in  the  Arbitration  and Conciliation Ordinance 2020 to amend the arbitration law;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Arbitration and Conciliation Ordinance 2020 seeks to recalibrate the balance between autonomy of the arbitration process and oversight by the courts;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the other steps being taken by the Government to make courts adopt the new normal and go virtual due to corona virus pandemic?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

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(a) & (b): The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 has  omitted  the  Eighth  Schedule  of  the  Arbitration  and  Conciliation  Act, 1996, which laid down qualifications, experience and norms for accreditation of  arbitrators.  Through  this  amendment,  eminent  arbitrators  would  be facilitated  to  conduct  arbitration  in  India  subject  to  the  regulations  to  be framed by the Arbitration Council of India.

This will not only strengthen the enforcement of contract regime but will also manner.

attract  both  domestic  and  international  investors,  to  choose  India  as  the preferred  destination  for  getting  their  disputes  resolved  in  a  time  bound (c) & (d): The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 has  inter-alia  amended  section  36  of  the  Act  relating  to  enforcement  of arbitral  award.  This  provision  comes  into  picture  only  after  the  arbitral proceedings are concluded and the award is rendered. Thus section 36 in no way overlaps with the conduct of arbitral proceedings till its conclusion. The amendment  in  section  36  has  been  carried  out  to  address  the  issue  of corrupt practices in securing contracts or arbitral awards and only provides for  unconditional  stay  on  enforcement  if  the  Court  is  prima  facie  satisfied that  the  underlying  arbitration  agreement  or  contract  or  making  of  the arbitral award are induced by fraud or corruption. (e): Video conferencing emerged as the mainstay of the Courts during the Covid lockdown period as physical hearings and normal court proceedings in the congregational mode were not possible. To  bring  about  uniformity  and  standardization  in  the  conduct  of  Video Conferencing  (VC), an  overarching order was  passed  by  the  Hon'ble Supreme  Court  of  India  on  6th  April  2020  which  gave  legal  sanctity  and validity  to  the  court  hearings  done  through  VC.  Further,  VC  rules  were framed  by  a  5  Judge  committee  which  was  circulated  to  all  the  HCs  for adoption  after  local  contextualization.  So  far,  the  VC  rules  have  been adopted by 12 High Courts. Since  Covid  lockdown  started,  the  District  courts  heard  45,73,159  cases while  the  High  Court  heard  20,60,318  cases  (totalling  to  66.33  lakh)  till 31.12.2020 using video conferencing only. The Supreme Court had nearly 32,000 hearings during the lockdown period.

Legal Services Authorities also appropriately responded by creatively adapting to the new normal and moving Lok Adalat to the virtual platform. E-  Lok  Adalat  is  a  process  to  settle  disputes,  combining  technology  and alternative  dispute  resolution  ('ADR')  mechanisms  which  offers  a  faster, transparent and accessible option.

Since then, E-Lok Adalats have been organized in 23 more States and UTs. In  total  8  lakh  cases  were  taken  up  out  of  which  around  4.07  lakh  cases were disposed of.

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