Adjudication Of Disputes Through Arbitration – Recent Changes To Law And Their Effects

Arbitration as an institutional dispute resolution process has immense credibility and legitimacy attached to it due to its likeness to the traditional court system. However, there are numerous corrective measures that are desirable to make this as an efficient process in the Indian scenario. Therefore, the aim and the object behind the recent changes brought in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ("the principal Act"), have been to provide a fast-tracked resolution process while giving the necessary institutional backing to undertake the requisite function of adjudging disputes better.

With the aforementioned aim, certain amendments to the principal Act have been made, the first of which was in year 2015 and thereafter another in the year 2019. The latest amending Act which gained the force of law on August 9, 2019 has stemmed from the recommendations made by the high-level Committee under the chairmanship of Justice BN Srikrishna.