Emergency Arbitration: A New Piece In India's Arbitration Arsenal?

ABSTRACT

India's push towards a pro-arbitration regime seems to have come to a cross-road with respect to the concept of emergency arbitration. While the courts have cautiously attempted to inculcate and evolve the concept through judicial intervention, the legislature remains adamant on its exclusion from the present framework under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. This paper analyses and critiques the judgements and institutional rules that embody the role and functioning of emergency arbitration in India, both for domestic seated arbitration and foreign seated arbitration. However, judicial intervention in the vacuum of legislative intent poses serious questions on the efficacy of enforcement and authority of an emergency arbitrator, especially in light of the existing conflict with pre-existing remedies available through domestic courts. This is aggravated by the lack of uniformity in our institution's rules concerning essential features such as