Arbitration In India

Early this year I blogged about my comments at the annual meeting of the Indian Society of International Law. Several of the members of my panel spoke about the sorry state of arbitration in India. I addressed the use of arbitration to avoid the vagaries of local law of which India has more than a few (http://pryorthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/02/isil-and-nlu-delhi_09.html).

A few months later I added some words about the comments of Fali Nariman to the same effect: India's arbitration system is broken and sophisticated arbitral cases are going to Hong Kong and Singapore (http://pryorthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/03/arbitration-not-litigation_28.html).

Maybe times are about to change. Several sources have reported that the Delhi High Court will open a high tech, high profile arbitration council on 25 November: http://www.livemint.com/2009/11/23233526/Delhi-high-court-to-start-arbi.html?h=B I hope this marks a new willingness on the part of India's judiciary, which has jealously guarded its prerogatives, to catch up with East Asia's move to easy access to arbitration as well as to increase its standing and visibility as India grows as a player in international commerce.