The principal issue that the parties face even today is delay at every stage of arbitration. The Supreme Court has time and again held that at the stage of Section 11, the only requirement to be satisfied is the prima facie existence of the arbitration clause. Despite this, the pendency of Section 11 petitions before various High Courts is staggering. The delay at the pre-appointment stage is relatively more exhausting for the litigants when compared to civil suits, where there is no such pre-institution delay. The Supreme Court had recently in the case of Shree Vishnu Constructions v. Engineer in Chief, Military Engineering Service observed:
“If the arbitrators are not appointed at the earliest and the applications under Sections 11(5) and 11(6) of the Arbitration Act are kept pending for a number of years, it will defeat the object and purpose of the enactment of the Arbitration Act and it may lose the significance of an effective Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism. …The litigant may lose the faith in the justice delivery system, which may ultimately affect not only rule of law but commerce and business in the country.”
In this backdrop, the Supreme Court further recorded,
“In that view of the matter, we request all the Chief Justices of the respective High Courts to ensure that all pending applications under Sections 11(5) and 11(6) of the Arbitration Act and/or any other applications either for substitution of arbitrator and/or change of arbitrator, which are pending for more than one year from the date of filing, must be decided within six months from today. The Registrar General(s) of the respective High Courts are directed to submit the compliance report on completion of six months from today. All endeavour shall be made by the respective High Courts to decide and dispose of the applications under Sections 11(5) and 11(6) of the Arbitration Act and/or any other like application at the earliest and preferably within a period of six months from the date of filing of the applications.”
Source: Barandbench
