Appellate Arbitral Tribunals Under Arbitration (Amendment) Bill, 2024: Issues And Challenges

The Government of India on 18 October 2024 released the draft Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (The "Bill") for public comments. The aim and purpose of the proposed amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (the "Act") as mentioned in the Bill itself, is to encourage institutional arbitration, reduce court intervention in arbitrations and to ensure timely conclusion of arbitration proceedings.

Among several other proposed amendments in furtherance to aforementioned purposes, one seeks to amend section 34 to provide parties to an arbitration, an option to file an application for setting aside awards to an appellate arbitral tribunal (hereinafter as "AAT") appointed by an arbitral institution. This article analyses the proposed amendment concerning the formulation of AATs.