CJI Surya Kant proposes register on arbitrators’ conflicts, caseload

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Friday proposed a common cross-institutional register containing details about an arbitrator’s conflicts, existing caseload, average time taken to deliver awards and areas of expertise..The CJI made the suggestion while delivering the keynote address at the closing session of India ADR Week 2026 in New Delhi, which marked ten years of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA).CJI Kant said arbitrators should be chosen on the basis of publicly available data on their track record rather than reputation circulating within closed legal circles.“Let Counsel choose Arbitrators the way any serious professional chooses a specialist, based on a visible track record, rather than on reputation transmitted only through closed circles,” the CJI said..CJI Kant added that arbitral institutions need not wait for a statutory regulator to introduce such transparency. He noted that the law creating the Arbitration Council of India was passed in 2019 but had not yet been notified. “Let transparency do the work that regulation is expected to do. This is not a softer alternative to regulation. In some ways, it may be a stronger form of accountability,” he said.CJI Kant also called for having specialised arbitrator panels for disputes in areas such as energy and technology, saying India needs arbitrators with “genuine sectoral expertise” rather than general commercial experience presented as specialist knowledge..The CJI emphasized that India’s ambition to emerge as a serious international arbitration seat depends on the experience offered to parties on the ground.“If a global client's first experience of an Indian-seated arbitration is a contractor waiting 18 months for interim payment, then another Tribunal could have granted in 18 days, no change in the rules of entry for foreign Counsel will save us,” he said..Earlier, MCIA Secretary General and Registrar Neeti Sachdeva said the institution had crossed 185 awards and none had been set aside. She said MCIA had also worked to expand the arbitrator pool, train younger professionals and build India’s institutional arbitration ecosystem..Senior Advocate Nakul Dewan, who also spoke at the event, said the conversation around Indian arbitration had changed considerably over the years. While earlier debates centered on court intervention and delays, he said the more ambitious question now was what place India could occupy in the global arbitration system..Delivering the vote of thanks, Senior Advocate and MCIA Council Member Gourab Banerji backed the CJI’s proposal, describing the cross-institutional register as “unique” and “eminently doable”. He said information on sitting load, average time to award and areas of specialisation could strengthen self-regulation..Giving the concluding remarks, MCIA Council Co-Chair Nish Shetty said nearly 40 per cent of MCIA’s arbitrator appointments were women, nearly half its cases had an international element and more than 60 per cent had no connection with Mumbai. He said the growth of more arbitral institutions in India should be welcomed as it would strengthen the overall ecosystem..At the event, CJI Kant launched the Arbitration Survey 2026 conducted by BCLP and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.The entire event was live transcribed by TERES, which provided real-time transcription services throughout the India ADR Week 2026.