Thursday, August 19, 2010

Construction Industry Arbitration In India

The scope for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and online dispute resolution (ODR) is increasing these days. Disputes pertaining to a wide range of commercial activities and e-commerce activities can be effectively resolved by using ADR and ODR mechanisms.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of Perry4Law and CEO of the exclusive techno legal ADR and ODR centre of India, “Arbitration has a good scope in India as we have qualitative arbitrators and mediators in India. Now even ODR has also been on the agenda of various arbitration institutions of India. Some of them have even asked us to help them in establishing the ODR infrastructure for them, informs Dalal.

Of the emerging areas of arbitration in India, Dalal informs that construction industry arbitration and defence industry investment related arbitrations may soon appear in India.

While organisations like United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), etc are moving in the direction of amending their ADR rules, norms and procedures, India is slow in this regard and is still following the outdated law.

Law Minister Veerappa Moily has already initiated the procedure to streamline the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 of India. Let us hope that this initiative would not take decades just like our legal and judicial system takes to resolve the disputes.