Unilateral Appointment Of The Arbitrator- Rights Of Aggrieved Party

Imagine you sign a contract, a dispute erupts, and then you discover that the arbitration clause in the contract lets the other side (usually the dominating party) pick the arbitrator on its own, or it hands you a panel it draws and tells you to choose from that. Doesn’t it feel one-sided? Yes, it does, and the Supreme Court now agrees as well. This article explains why a unilateral appointment of an arbitrator is largely impermissible, how Section 12(5) of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996 (“Act”) rules on the ineligibility of arbitrator function, and what you can do about it.

What Section 12(5) of the Act and the Seventh Schedule say

Post the 2015 Amendment, the foundation of any challenge lies in Section 12 of the Act. Section 12(5) of the Act says that, whatever the parties may have agreed earlier, a person whose relationship with a party, its counsel or the subject-matter falls within the Seventh Schedule, drawn from the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest cannot be