Arbitrators are expected to be impartial; our aim is to limit challenges to awards: Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Though there is no specific provision in the Arbitration Act to that effect, an arbitrator is expected to be fair and impartial in their conduct, the Supreme Court's Justice Hrishikesh Roy said on Wednesday..On the eve of the Delhi Arbitration Weekend, Justice Roy spoke at an event hosted by the Indian Arbitration Forum (IAF) on the topic Code of Conduct for Arbitrators. He said,"Code of conduct is very important...this is one aspect which may have very important bearing in the efforts of the IAF to make India a place to choose as a destination for arbitration...What we are actually looking at in this topic is that we limit challenges which might come for an award. If an arbitrator behaves in a certain manner, and does not disclose something important, it can lead to a serious challenge.".Justice Roy underlined that apart from being fair and impartial, arbitrators must also be transparent, coherent and cost-effective. "Arbitration cannot be a 'moonlighting' activity on the side. That cannot be. There has to be an element of seriousness. This would require us to remove any distractions from the arbitration process," he added. .Further, discussing the issue of "double-hatting", the judge said that there was a need to have lawyers experienced in the field of arbitration as well as industry experts to bring in expertise and competence."There are complex issues which a normal arbitrator will not be suitable to decide competently. These are situations where we would need double-hatting.".Following the address by Justice Roy, a panel discussion ensued on the subject. The panellists included: Salim Moollan (King's Counsel, Brick Court Chambers)Sreenivasan Narayanan, (Managing Partner, K&L Gates Straits Law LLC)Tejas Karia, (Partner & Head, Arbitration, SAM & Co & Director, IAF)Aseem Chaturvedi, (Partner, Khaitan & Co)Sumit Khosla, (Partner, Accuracy)Radhika Bishwajit Dubey, (Independent Counsel, Convener, IAF)..The discussion touched upon topics ranging from the expectations of arbitrators in terms of their conduct to the best practices adopted by arbitrators to regulate costs..At the end of the discussion, the Delhi High Court's Justice Vibhu Bakhru also flagged the issue of ceilings on the cost of arbitration. "We are catering to a high-value arbitration. So, the costs need to be tempered," he said. He added that arbitral awards ought to be published in the public domain as a means to ensure impartiality. .[Read our live-coverage of the discussion below]