The government wants to free up funds stuck in long-drawn arbitration proceedings which would help ease up liquidity crunch faced by the private sector engaged in executing infrastructure projects. Disputes between the various departments of government and private sector executors of infrastructure projects have landed in arbitration proceedings, which the government wants to be settled at the earliest. Perhaps the biggest arbitration case which recently got settled in the favour of private sector is the dispute involving power producer NTPC. Also, due to the lack of awareness about alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, arbitration proceedings often tend to devolve into court proceedings where adjournments are regularly granted. The Lok Sabha in January passed the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill 2018 which proposes to establish an international arbitration centre at New Delhi, replacing the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution set-up in 1995.

Source: dna February 17, 2019 23:26 UTC