Context

• Lok Sabha passed the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill, 2018 which aims at revamping arbitration culture in the country.
• It is based on the findings of the High Powered Committee which held that the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution has failed to address the growing needs of the institutional arbitration.

About

Highlights of the bill

• The Bill aims for creating an independent and autonomous regime for institutionalised arbitration and the better management of arbitration.
• According to the bill, with a view to promote institutional arbitration and make India its hub, a high-level committee headed by Justice B N Srikrishna, a former Supreme Court judge, was constituted to identify the roadblocks in the development of institutional arbitration.
• The committee had recommended that ICADR should be taken over with complete revamp of its governance structure to include only experts of repute who can lend credibility and respectability to the institution and be re-branded as a centre of national importance to highlight its character as a flagship arbitral institution.
• The bill thus proposes to establish an international arbitration centre at New Delhi, replacing the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR) set-up in the year 1995, which is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act.
• The proposed New Delhi International Arbitration Centre will be a statutory body, consisting of a Chairperson, two eminent persons having substantial knowledge in international and domestic arbitration, one representative of a recognized body of commerce, Secretary to the Ministry of Law & Justice, Finance Advisor and a Chief Executive Officer.
• The Chairperson should have been a judge of the Supreme Court or High Court, or an eminent person having special knowledge and experience in the conduct or administration of arbitration, appointed by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
• The two eminent persons and the representative of commerce body are to be appointed by the Central Government.
• modes of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms being adopted by the Centre.
  
  

  International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR) It was established at the initiative of some of the leading legal luminaries. It was registered as a Society in 1995 under the Societies registration Act, 1860 for the promotion and development of ADR facilities and techniques to facilitate early resolution of disputes and to reduce the increasing burden of arrears in Courts. It is an autonomous organisation with its headquarters at New Delhi and Regional Centres at Hyderabad and Bangalore. The Chief Justice of India is the ex-officio chairperson of the ICADR, while former law is the patron of the institution.