SC lauds Bombay HC practice of appointing young lawyers as arbitrators

The Supreme Court has lauded the Bombay High Courts practice of appointing young lawyers as arbitrators saying it helps in training them in alternate dispute redressal mechanismsHearing an arbitration dispute on fixing the price of cylinders a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said on Friday that its good both parties have agreed on a common name for the processBombay High Court has now started a practice of appointing young knowledgeable lawyers as arbitrators at minimal cost These young lawyers take it as an honour being appointed by the high court They do the work diligently and complete it in twothree sittings They even charge less as compared to others and are doing an enormous job the bench saidJustice Chandrachud recalled an incident when he was a judge in the Bombay High Court and a person was appointed as arbitratorAlso read Man with surgical gloves can feel entire body yet get away with punishment AG slams Bombay HCrsquos judgmentSoon both the parties came to us and said with folded hands we are requesting you to change the arbitrator saying he is seeking more fees than what has been fixed by the court So we directed that fees will be charged as per the schedule You see this is the problemThe bench said when it appoints an arbitrator now it specifically mentions that fees are to be charged according to the scheduleThe counsel for a firm called Supreme Cylinders Ltd said arbitral proceedings have been pending since 2017 The arbitrator appointed by the court he added is repeatedly giving adjournments on one pretext to another despite charging for each sittingHe told the court that it would be better if some other sole arbitrator was appointed and the matter decided without any adjournmentsThe counsel said he wants the fixing of the prices of cylinders by Bharat Petroleum to be done urgently as repeated adjournments in arbitration proceedings is affecting his clients businessAfter hearing the parties the top court ordered In substitution of the Arbitrator who was appointed by the order of this Court dated April 24 2017 all the disputes and differences between the parties are referred to the sole arbitration of Justice Naresh H Patil former Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at BombayIt said the proceedings shall commence from the stage reached before the previous arbitrator and the arbitral award is to be made after hearing final arguments on the basis of the evidence already placed on recordThe top court said that in view of the stage which has been reached in the arbitral proceedings the fees of the arbitrator are fixed at a lump sum of Rs 15 lakh The amount shall be shared between the contesting parties the respondents Bharat Petroleum shall bear 50 per cent of the amount while the claimants Supreme Cylinders Ltd shall share the balance 50 per cent in equal proportionIt said no refund is being claimed of the fees already paid to the previous arbitrator and no further amount shall be payable towards fees costs and expensesIn view of the fact that the arbitral proceedings are pending since 2017 the newly appointed arbitrator is requested to expedite the proceedings and to deliver the arbitral award preferably within a period of four months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order All the parties have agreed to cooperate with the time schedule which has been fixed by the arbitrator without seeking adjournments the bench saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever