Source : Livelaw.in
The Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 by voice vote. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on February 4, 2021 by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. It is already in force by way of an Ordinance promulgated on 4th November 2020.
It seeks to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 so as to (i) enable automatic stay on awards in certain cases and (ii) specify by regulations the qualifications, experience and norms for accreditation of arbitrators.
In the present regime, a party may file an application before the Court under Section 34 of the 1996 Act for setting aside of an arbitral award. However after the 2015 amendment to Section 36 of the Act, an automatic stay would not be granted on operation of the award by mere filing an application for setting it aside.
The Bill seeks to omit Schedule VIII and states that qualifications, experience and norms for accreditation of arbitrators shall be specified by Regulations.
The Government wanted to promptly prevent collusive attempts of parties to seek benefit of an award tainted with corruption.