- INTRODUCTION
Section 29A(1) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996
(the "Arbitration Act")
prescribes, inter alia, the time limit for arbitral
tribunals to make arbitral awards under the Arbitration Act. The
Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 had with effect
from August 30, 2019 (the "Effective
Date"), amended Section 29A(1) of the Arbitration Act
to state, inter alia, "...the award in matters
other than international commercial arbitration shall be made by
the arbitral tribunal within a period of twelve months
from the date of completion of pleadings
under sub-section (4) of section 23...". However, it
was ambiguous whether the amended Section 29A(1) of the Arbitration
Act will have retrospective application to arbitrations which had
commenced prior to, but were pending adjudication as on the
Effective Date.
