India nowhere in international commercial arbitration: Vice-President Dhankhar

Lamenting that India was nowhere in international commercial arbitration, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said it was time to look beyond retired judges as arbitrators.

"On self-assessment, without fear of contradiction, I can say we are nowhere. We are nowhere in the minds of people having commercial relationships with us if it is international commercial arbitration," the Vice-President said, addressing the inaugural session of a colloquium on “International Arbitration: Indian Perspective” organised by India International Arbitration Centre here.

Emphasising the need for participation of domain experts in arbitration, he referred to a former Chief Justice of India’s remarks that the arbitral process in the country has become an "old boys’ club".

The Vice-President, however, said, “I should not be misunderstood… even for a moment. Retired judges of this country are an asset to the arbitral process. They lend credibility to us. I know some of the former chief justices and judges being absolutely appreciated globally for international commercial arbitration…. But there are areas where the arbitral tribunal needs to be supplemented by experts in the field of oceanography, in aviation, in infrastructure and what not. And the disputes are relatable to the experience which is sectoral.”

He said, “Unfortunately, we have taken in this country a very myopic view of arbitration as if it is adjudication. It is much beyond adjudication. It is not conventional adjudication as historically evaluated globally.”

Dhankhar also sought to highlight the misuse of Article 136 – which provided for Special Leave Petition (SLP) to be filed in the Supreme Court against any judgment or order, saying it was supposed to be a "narrow slit" but was now hurting the arbitral process due to its wide use.

"Article 136 intervention was supposed to be a narrow-slit. The wall has been demolished with anything and everything under the sun, including what a magistrate has to do, what a session judge has to do, what a district judge has to do, what a high court judge has to do," the Vice President said, adding the "wall demolition" was hurting arbitral process.

"All I am suggesting in all humility and as the concerned citizen of this country is that the issue which you are debating is of critical importance to micro, small industries. They want facile, easy arbitral process," he said.