The success of IAMC, Hyderabad will be India's Success - VK Rajah

On February 21,2023 the International Arbitration Mediation Centre, Hyderabad organized a discussion on “How efficient ADR processes contribute to the common good and the role of institutional arbitration in this matrix” in collaboration with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. The event witnessed one of the leading arbitrators in the world VK Rajah, SC former Attorney General of Singapore and Former Judge, Court of Appeal, Singapore Supreme Court as the special guest..KT Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister for Information Technology, Industries & Commerce, Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Government of Telangana, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Chief Justice for the High Court for the State of Telangana and Justice L Nageswara Rao, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India served as panelists at the event. The participants were judges from the High Court, senior arbitrators, members from various tribunals and regulatory bodies, senior advocates, and stakeholders from various industries..Tariq Khan, Registrar IAMC, Hyderabad delivered the welcome address, taking participants through IAMC, Hyderabad’s one year journey and stressed on the fact that a protocol has been developed to resolve disputes pertaining to MSME’s..Justice Ujjal Bhuyan noted IAMC’s efforts to slowly but surely, establish itself as a global centre domestically and internationally. He noted that today businesses in India are still in the shadow of the government and when they come out of the same, they will truly embrace institutional arbitration. The same will strengthen economy and contribute to good governance. By way of example, he mentioned VK Rajah's interim award in Amazon Future Retail emergency arbitration, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court of India, further building confidence in India as an arbitration friendly jurisdiction and noting that it will help reduce backlog of cases seeking interim reliefs before courts..KT Rama Rao, Minister for IT and Commerce, Govt. of Telangana extended a warm welcome to VK Rajah on his first visit to Hyderabad and stressed on the importance of quality of doing business and not only on the ease of doing business. Echoing the Registrar’s welcome address, the minister noted that apart from catering to the needs of big businesses the focus should also be on the MSME sectors. He also highlighted the need for speedier dispute resolution for the industries and offered all the support necessary to achieve the same..VK Rajah noted that it takes a commitment on the part of the State to look at ADR seriously and that on his first visit to Hyderabad, he was very impressed. He also mentioned that it is very important to have competent judiciary, efficient legal system and adopting the practice of appointment of amicus will lead the way in helping parties in choosing Hyderabad as a preferred seat of arbitration..Noting that promotion of arbitration culture is a two-way street, he also recommended IAMC set targets and publish them in terms of timelines and appointments, noting that when the business community knows these are the standards set, things will fall in place..Rajah noted that corporate counsel should actively participate to shape up the practice of arbitration as per the needs of Industry. He said it is unfortunate for Indian companies to choose foreign seated arbitrations and stressed on the need to treat domestic firms and institutions such as IAMC as national assets. The success of IAMC will be a success for all stakeholders. He suggested that a way to nurture such domestic talent would be a world class LLM course in India..Speaking of the mushrooming of arbitration centres, globally, taking China as an example with over 200 of them, Rajah felt that there would soon be a downsizing of the same and that it would be difficult for China to become a global arbitration hub despite competent lawyers and judges when compared to India, which benefits from the common law system and familiarity with the English language in relation to international arbitration..Within the Indian context there is certainly space for two or three arbitration centres, with each playing to its strengths, for example in Hyderabad the resolution of disputes in Pharma and Tech sectors. Looking at the advances made by Indians in the technology and banking sectors, recently, Rajah expressed every confidence, that if given the right support, young Indian arbitration practitioners today will be global thought leaders in international arbitration in the next 10-15 years..Justice Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the mode of dispute resolution is not as important as the resolution itself and that mediation has a major role to play in this regard. He mentioned that it was important for judges to be well sensitized to the benefits of mediation..Justice LN Rao noted that a change in the mindset of lawyers is needed and that parties accept arbitral awards and not challenging them. Quoting Justice Roscoe Pound, he raised concerns about the working of the adversarial court system and shared the theories of Harvard Professor Frank Sanders, Multi door courthouse with multiple doors to choose the method of dispute resolution. To make mediation really kick off in India he proposed that the introduction of mediation clause’s in public contracts by the Government to lead the way. The enforcement of contracts and awards should be focused on with specialised courts like commercial courts with trained judges..The fireside chat was moderated by Lomesh Kiran Nidumuri, Disputes Head South India, Cyril Amarchand Mangalas.