A lot of firms today do not want to get into litigation: Justice Jyoti Singh at DAW 2025

Justices Jyoti Singh and Tara Vitasta Ganju of the Delhi High Court on Thursday discussed proposed amendments to the Arbitration Act, during a session at the ongoing Delhi Arbitration Weekend (DAW) 2025.

Justice Singh lauded the latest amendments. She said,

“The Arbitration Act is being aligned with the Stamp Act. This will actually reduce a lot of delays in the enforcement stage and the challenges which keep coming. The amendment that is proposed is that 90 days' timeline would commence from the day application is filed as against the date of the order passed. The existing provision, very importantly, 30 days period has been now provided for deciding jurisdictional issues. That has really been the heart of dispute in a lot of matters."

She stated that the proposed amendments would expedite, modernise and systemise the arbitration proceedings.

She went on to note that many firms generally choose the option of arbitration in order to maintain confidentiality on dispute.

“The concern is about confidentiality. Arbitration is a private arrangement. A lot of firms today do not want to get into litigation and one of the reasons is because they want to be anonymous about it. They do not want their reputations coming in as a litigator, which is why most firms today either have a non-litigation policy or they want to choose arbitration,” she stated.

Justice Ganju stated that conducting arbitration proceedings online through video conferencing would be a welcome development.

“We will keep trying to do things more efficiently, but unless the statute provides for it, or when the statute provides for it, it makes things easier for the practitioner. For the courts, we already have online court. You sit every day with the online virtual courts, so adding it to arbitration is definitely needed,” she stated.

She highlighted that there are still certain gaps, specially in the case of foreign awards, that need to be addressed.

“So there is certainly a gap or a lacuna which needs to be filled in on all this. Domestic emergency awards will be enforceable, but in the case of foreign seated awards, currently, there is a gap, and this does need to be addressed.”

Justice Singh stated that a robust mechanism is required for the amendments to work.

“I think we can make it work by putting in place some robust mechanisms. For instance, you can have restricted data accesses, or perhaps you can anonymise the data. These disclosures will go a long way in making the system more transparent," she suggested.

The discussion also featured Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra, Counsel for International Arbitration at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Shanelle Irani, VIAC Secretary General Niamh Leinwather and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Partner Smarika Singh.

This session was hosted by Arbitral Women, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.