News: President of India has promulgated the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 to further amend Arbitration and Conciliation Act.
Facts:
- Aim: To ensure that all the stakeholders get an opportunity to seek unconditional stay of enforcement of arbitral awards where the underlying arbitration agreement or contract is induced by fraud or corruption.
Key amendments:
- Amendment to Section 36: If the arbitration award is being given on the basis of an agreement based on fraud or corruption, then the court will not impose a condition to stay the award and grant an unconditional stay during the pendency of the appeal.
- Till now, an arbitration award was enforceable even if an appeal was filed against it in the court.But the court could grant a stay on the award on conditions as it deemed fit.
- Omission of Eighth Schedule: The ordinance has also deleted Eighth Schedule of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996 which enables foreign practitioners to act as arbitrators in India.
Additional Facts:
- Arbitration: It is a procedure in which the dispute is submitted to an arbitral tribunal which makes a decision on the dispute that is binding on the parties.
- Conciliation: It is a non-binding procedure in which an impartial third party, the conciliator assists the parties to a dispute in reaching a mutually satisfactory agreed settlement of the dispute.
