India should promote culture of commercial arbitration: CJI DY Chandrachud

Satya Prakash

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New Delhi, June 7

Noting that the time has come for India to promote a culture of commercial arbitration, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has said that setting up effective arbitration institutions can boost its practice in the Global South.

Speaking on “Law and Practice of commercial arbitration: Shared understandings and developments in the UK and India” on Thursday at the UK Supreme Court, CJI Chandrachud said institutionalisation of arbitration will help to develop such a culture of settling commercial disputes through arbitration.

“Technology and artificial intelligence add value to the services provided by arbitral institutions in matters such as reviewing documents or transcribing the proceedings,” the CJI said, adding adoption of technology at all levels of arbitration proceedings will make such proceedings more efficient and more accessible.

“I firmly believe that now is the time for countries such as India to step up to the occasion to create and promote a culture of commercial arbitration. The robust institutionalization of arbitration will further the culture of arbitration in the Global South,” the CJI said in the presence of the UK Supreme Court, the President Lord Reed, Deputy President Lord Hodge and other judges.

Highlighting that India has set up the India International Arbitration Centre and the Mumbai and Delhi International Arbitration Centre as examples, the CJI said mere creation of institutions was not enough.

“We have to ensure that these new institutions are not controlled by a self-perpetuating clique. These institutions must be based on the foundation of robust professionalism and the ability to generate consistent arbitral processes. Transparency and accountability, values by which the work of conventional courts is assessed and critiqued, cannot be alien to the world of arbitration,” the CJI said.

Maintaining that “the future of arbitration lies in streamlining the law and practice of arbitration on these three stages”, he said, “As practitioners of arbitration and adjudicators of disputes, we must reflect on the future of arbitration because the future is already here. We just have to recognise it and adapt our legal systems to respond to the challenges.”