SC Constitution Bench defers hearing after AG says govt has set up expert committee on arbitration

New Delhi, July 12 Attorney General R. Venkataramani on Wednesday apprised the Supreme Court that the Union government has formed an expert committee to examine the working of arbitration law in the country and recommend reforms in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

He requested the Constitution Bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, to defer its present proceedings for a period of two months.

The AG told the five-judge bench that the expert committee formed on June 14 this year has commenced the consultation process and will “not take more than two months” to submit its report to the government.

“The Attorney General states issues arising before the constitution bench would also come within the broad framework of the committee. After the report of the committee, the government will take a call if modification of legislation is warranted. Presently we direct that two references before the Constitution bench be deferred for two months. List on September 13, 2023," said the bench, also comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy, P.S. Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal, and Justice Manoj Misra.

The five-judge constitution bench was formed to consider the questions, whether a person who is ineligible to be an arbitrator in a dispute can nominate another person to be an arbitrator.

In 2022, the issue was referred to a larger bench in view of the conflicting decisions rendered by two three-judge benches.

The Ministry of Law and Justice has set up a 16-member expert committee headed by former Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, T.K. Vishwanathan, inter-alia, to suggest novel solutions to limit the requirements of parties to seek judicial intervention by approaching the court and to address the issue of expeditious attribution of finality to the award.