A strong attempt by some countries, led by the US and some European nations, to force India to disallow appeals in arbitration awards was recently defeated by an Indian delegation.
At the recently-held session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in New York, the Indian delegation was surprised when an attempt was made to push the adoption of revised version of Arbitration Rules, 1976 even though some of the clauses of the proposed law went against the prevailing Indian laws. India?s successful attempt to counter the move was supported by representatives from Argentina, Canada and Malaysia.
Among the proposals put forward by the Western bloc was to put all arbitration awards beyond the purview of national courts if the parties to the arbitration agreement agreed to waive their right to take recourse to a court of law. If passed, this would have effectively meant that all future arbitration awards would be self executing if they were found to be perverse or against public policy. The countries pushing for the amendment voiced concern over the extremely slow pace of arbitration proceedings in India as well as the lack of institutional backing for arbitration proceedings.
However, the Indian delegation led by the advisor to law minister TK Vishvanathan scuttled the move, saying it would be against the prevailing laws in the country. After strong lobbying, India managed to defer the clause and ultimately it was made part of annexure as a model clause, which may be adopted by parties in the arbitration agreements if the applicable law permits.