Justice Chawla said that there is concept of compensation or costs for frivolous litigation and that would be a roadblock to arbitration.
“In India, the biggest problem is the number of frivolous litigation and the reason for that is that we do not have a compensatory or exemplary costs concept… Until and unless that concept comes up and a party is compensated for the frivolous litigation, we will not move ahead. That’s my personal view,” he said.
Besides, India ranks as one of the worst countries when it comes to enforcement of contract enforcement and in such a situation making it a global hub for arbitration is a very difficult task, the judge added.
“With the opening of the Indian economy and foreign investment coming in, it is not proper that all these arbitrations are still being held in London or Singapore or France. We must make sure that arbitration comes to India. Everyone has a role to play. We have a legislation that is the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, we have courts which have, as far as award enforcement and upholding of awards is concerned, have started not to interfere at all,” he said.
Source: Barandbench
