Arbitration Mediation and Conciliation
The Arbitration Mediation and Conciliation Act, 1996 provides for the conduct of proceedings in a time- bound manner, i.e., limitation in arbitration, within the following provisions:
Section 8 - application for reference of disputes to arbitration, shall be filed not later than submitting the first statement on the substance of the dispute;
Section 9(2) - where a Court passes an order for any interim measure of protection, the arbitral proceedings shall be commenced within a period of 90 days from the date of such order;
Section 13 - where a challenge is made against an arbitrator, the same must be raised within 15 days from the constitution of the tribunal, or after becoming aware of any circumstances mentioned in sub-section (3) of Section 12;
Section 16(2) - a plea that the tribunal does not have jurisdiction, shall be raised not later than the submission of the statement of defence; and
Section 34(3) - a maximum period of 90 days after the receipt of the signed award, to file objections before the Court.
The Arbitration Mediation and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 introduced new amendments for the speedy disposal of arbitral proceedings:
Sections 11(13) - an application made either before the Supreme Court, or the High Court, or person or institution designated by such Court, shall be disposed of as quickly as possible, and an endeavour shall be made to dispose of the petition within a period of 60 days from the date of service of the notice on the opposite party)
Section 29A the arbitral proceedings must be completed within a period of 12 months from the date of completion of pleadings; and
Section 34(6) - an application under Section 34 shall be disposed of expeditiously within a period of 1 year from the date on which the notice of filing objections is served upon the other party.
The Arbitration Mediation and Conciliation Act, 1996 provides for limitation in arbitration under Section 43. This section provides for the conditions regarding application of limitation to cases, the start of proceedings, when the claims would be barred by time and conditions that need to be met for time extensions to be granted. Here, limitation shall apply to arbitrations as it applies to proceedings in Court. It also provides that an arbitration shall be believed to have commenced on the date referred to in Section 21, i.e., the date on which a request for that dispute to be referred to arbitration is received by the respondent.
Section 11 of the Arbitration Mediation and Conciliation Act, 1996 deals with the appointment of arbitrators, the procedure, requirements and limitations in arbitration insofar as it applies to any stage of the proceedings.
Section 11(4) states that if a party fails to appoint an arbitrator within 30 days from the receipt of the request to do so or if 2 appointed arbitrators fail to agree on the third arbitrator within 30 days from the date of their appointment, the appointment shall be made by the High Court, or the Supreme Court, as the case may be, on the request of a party.