Section 8 Of The Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996: A Saving Beacon

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter the "1996 Act") supplants the Arbitration Act, 1940. In the 1996 Act, intervention by Courts was limited so that the object behind speedy justice could be well achieved. To further the aforesaid objective, the 1996 Act harbours many provisions. Section 8 of the 1996 Act denotes one such provision which provides for limited judicial intervention and furthers the objective by directing the parties to get involved in arbitration on the basis of the arbitration agreement. In domestic arbitrations , the uses of Section 8 applications in the Courts have spiraled over the years. This piece provides an indepth analysis of Section 8 of the 1996 Act by focusing on the judicial precedents.