Appointment Of Government Employees As Arbitrators: Regress Or Reform?

Recent developments

Independence and impartiality are the cornerstones of Arbitration. It is true that if you have an arbitrator whose reputation is impeccable and is known for his independence and impartiality, the quality of the Award will be such which, will invariably be upheld by the courts. Further, party autonomy is another important factor which needs to be kept in mind for appointment of an arbitrator. Before the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 ("2015 Amendment Act") came into operation, the law or rather the strict rule was that the disputes are to be referred to the named arbitrator and a party cannot wriggle out of the situation that the named arbitrator will not be impartial. With regard to the fact that this rule led to a lot of disputes with the party complaining about the fact that the arbitrator is partial or bias, a need was felt to amend the laws.