January 17, 2002

    The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley has said that expeditious remedy of arbitration has been defeated by excessive judicial intervention which has nullified the utility of the 1940 Arbitration Act. Inaugurating a two-day annual day conference of the Council of MES Builders Association of India here today, Shri Jaitley said the very objective of parties going outside the jurisdiction of courts under arbitration for expeditious remedy has not worked because of excessive judicial interference. The 1940 Arbitration Act lost its utility as judges did not want to be told that they did not have jurisdiction over arbitration. The Minister further said that unless the courts themselves decided not to interfere, the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 would meet the same fate as the 1940 Act. In this connection, the Law Minister referred to various instances of foreign business as also domestic business hampering in India for want of an expeditious remedial platform of arbitration. The Minister was happy to note the recent judgement of the Supreme Court in BALCO disinvestment case stating that courts should not interfere in the Government’s economic policy. The Minister opined that corrective factor relating to time-frame in arbitration award would have to be sorted out and interference of courts limited to the apex court to make arbitral course efficacious and time bound.