Conduct of Arbitral

Proceedings
LL.B. IV Sem and BA LL.B VIII Sem
Faculty of Law, BHU.

Dr. Rajnish Kumar Singh

Determination of Rules of Procedure
• Section19 —
1. The arbitral tribunal shall not be bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of
1908) or the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872).
2. Subject to this Part, the parties are free to agree on the procedure to be followed
by the arbitral tribunal in conducting its proceedings.
3. Failing any agreement referred to in sub-section (2), the arbitral tribunal may,
subject to this Part, conduct the proceedings in the manner it considers
appropriate.
4. The power of the arbitral tribunal under sub-section (3) includes the power to
determine the admissibility, relevance, materiality and weight of any evidence.
• It is a two level system
• Provides for procedural autonomy
• Suitable for circumstances of international cases
Determination of Rules of Procedure (Contd…)
• Parties can make their own set of rules or can adopt rules of some
institution.
• Agreement can be found in ‘arbitration clause’ or in ‘the agreement
to submit’
• Section 19 attracts disputants towards arbitration.
• Restrictionon Party autonomy: Provisions of Part I
• Section 18
• Section 23(1) – Statement of claim and defence
• Section 24 (2) & (3) – Hearing and written proceedings
• Section 27 – Court assistance in taking evidence
• Section 30 – Settlement
• Section 31 (1), (3), &(4) – Form and content of award
• Section 32- Termination of proceedings
• Section 33 – Correction and Interpretation of award & additional award
• Procedure must be consistent with public policy of India
Determination of Rules of Procedure (Contd…)
• Default Procedure under Section 19 (3) is also subject to other
provisions of part I, as mentioned before.
• It is important that the parties must be familiar with the adopted procedure
or the procedure must be acceptable to the parties.
• The default procedure provides discretion to the tribunal to checkmate the
dilatory and unreasonable tactics adopted by a party to retard the progress of
arbitration.
• There can be many choices:
• Traditional or adversarial procedure
• Inquisitorial procedure
• Ad-hoc procedure depending on the nature of the dispute
• Institutional procedure