International Arbitration seated in India

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​The International arbitration between parties from different jurisdictions, if seated in India then the procedure applicable is similar to the domestic arbitration proceedings. Moreover such an International arbitration award passed in that proceeding shall get a similar treatment like a domestic arbitral award. In such an international arbitration, the procedural law shall be Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act,1996.That means the supervising courts shall be Indian courts, Part I of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,1996 shall apply and such an award can be challenged in an Indian court having its jurisdiction under S.34 of the Act. With regard to the enforceability of an International arbitration award passed in India, there is no difference. Almost most of the signatories to the New York convention recognize an International arbitral award passed in India.
 

Appointment of Arbitrators:

​The main difference between the Domestic arbitrations in India and the International arbitrations seated in India is appointment authority with regard to appointment of arbitrators. The appointment of Arbitrator in case of an International Arbitration seated in India is done by the Supreme Court of India and in the case of domestic arbitration it is done by the Chief Justice of the High Court. This does not apply in case of Institution administered International Arbitration because in those cases appointment of an arbitrator is done by the arbitral Institution itself. There are many professionally managed arbitral Institutions in India including LCIA (India). The Firm due to its expertise in domestic and International arbitration it can handle these India seated international arbitration matters effectively.

Interim orders from the Court: The major advantage in keeping the seat in India with regard to a case where the assets of the company is situated in India, is the interim protection procedure. A party apprehending an irreparable loss from the other party can approach the District Court or High Court in the seat of Arbitration, make an application under S.9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,1996 and seek for an exparte interim order. Such applications are listed before the court on priority and orders can be expected within 48 hours also. Getting an interim order from the courts in India is much easier and faster than getting an interim international award from a foreign seated tribunal or an emergency arbitrator award and getting it executed in India
 

Challenging of Arbitrators:

The new 1996 Arbitration Act, was passed by the Parliament of India with an objective to minimise the court interference into the arbitration matters. Hence if a party has any apprehension about the neutrality of an arbitrator, it can move an application before the arbitral tribunal and ask for a change. If the tribunal accepts the application and the arbitrator is removed or he recuse himself from the panel the matter comes to an end. But in case if the tribunal rejects the application, the aggrieved party cannot approach the court immediately. It has to wait for the final award and if the award goes against it, bias can be included as one of the grounds for challenging the said award.

Challenging the final/ interim award: The courts are not liberal in entertaining the applications seeking to challenge an arbitral award and the grounds of challenge are very limited. The losing party may file an application under S.34 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act,1996 seeking to set aside the award. But such an application must be filed within 3months from the date of receipt of the arbitral award and courts have power to condone a delay of another 30 days in entertaining that application. Once that period is over the courts in India The court may interfere with an award only if it is violating the public policy of India or if it is patently illegal shaking the conscious of the court. The Supreme Court of India has settled the law with regard to public policy interpretation and also with regard to the scope of S.34.

Enforcement of International Arbitral awards Passed in India: India is a signatory to theNew York convention on recognition and enforcement of foreign awards and hence around 80 countries across the world recognise the international arbitral awards passed in Indian seat. The award passed in India becomes a court decree and can be enforced in any country after the 3months limitation period is over or after the disposal of the S.34 application filed challenging the arbitral award, whichever is later. The firm has a network associate arbitration lawyers from all over the world to enforce arbitral awards in any country and hence it can ensure best services.