Has a lot changed since India amended its arbitration law?
Rebecca Abraham investigates
Nearly a year after amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, came into force, courts across India continue to grapple with questions about how the amendments apply to court proceedings. Are matters referred to the court in the course an arbitration initiated under the unamended act to be decided in accordance with the unamended act or the amended act? For while section 26 of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015, says that the amendment act will not apply to arbitral proceedings that commenced before it came into force on 23 October 2015, unless the parties agree, it remains silent on how it applies to court proceedings.
TEETHING TROUBLES
The ambiguity in the law has resulted in at least 10 court rulings but the controversy rages on as different courts have produced conflicting rulings. “The decisions are all over the place … the manner in which it has played out across the country is confusing,” remarks Naresh Thacker, a Mumbai-based partner at Economic Laws Practice.
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