New Delhi, May 31
Alleging “rampant corruption” in adjudication of disputes by the arbitrators, the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) today said the award by them should not be made final and there should be a mandatory provision of appeal against their orders.
“The Arbitration Act, 1940, and the amendment made in it in 1996 failed because of rampant corruption in obtaining the awards. That is why most of the authorities ultimately preferred to delete the arbitration clauses in their agreements,” BCD Chairman K C Mittal told the NCR Tribune here today.
Stating that the BCD has sent representations to the President, the Prime Minister, the Union Law Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Law Commission, on the issue, he said parties to an agreement, whether involving government agencies or private companies, were choosing not to include arbitration clause in the accords due to this reason.
“This happened because the award was made final and unchallengeable making authority of arbitrator absolute,” the BCD chief said, adding, in any adjudicatory system, one appeal on facts as well as law is inherent for filtration and purity of administration of justice. Failure to provide such remedy in any judicial system was bound to collapse, he said.
When asked about instances where the award given by the arbitrator had been challenged in the high courts, as was done by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the Ajay Jadeja’s case recently, the BCD Chairman said there was only a limited provision for brining to the court’s notice the “limited objections” about the facts and law not considered properly by the arbitrator.
“The fundamental concept of appeal can be derived from the provisions laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), where first appeal is on facts and law and second only on point of law,” he said. Subjecting an unwilling person’s case for adjudication, with no procedure and the right of appeal, is inherently fallacious,” the BCD chief said.
