An International Arbitration Centre (IAC) in Hyderabad would be reality if the State government was ready to provide infrastructural facilities, said Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana on Tuesday.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in an informal discussion with Telangana High Court legal correspondents at Raj Bhavan here, said bringing the IAC to Hyderabad was his dream. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao readily agreed to create all facilities required to set it up in Hyderabad.
One such centre is already operational in Singapore. The CJI, who was in Hyderabad on a three-day visit to the State, explained that he held consultations with Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon during the latter’s recent visit to Delhi on setting up an IAC in Hyderabad.
It would require to constitute a panel of renowned international arbitrators. The reputation of international arbitrators would be an important factor in ensuring successful operation of the Centre, the CJI said. A Judge of the Supreme Court would be asked to coordinate with the international arbitrators, Singapore Chief Justice and Telangana government in establishing the IAC at Hyderabad.
In next few weeks, the Chief Justice of Singapore was likely to visit Delhi for an international programme. After holding another round of discussions with him, efforts would be made to invite him and international arbitrators to Hyderabad this August to assess the feasibility of creating such centre here, the CJI said.
Due to location of several pharmaceutical and IT companies in and around Hyderabad litigations involving multinational entities was on the rise. These companies and litigants had no other option but to go to other international arbitration centres and were incurring huge expenditure due to that. Establishing an IAC in Hyderabad would be helpful to companies and the city was well connected internationally as well, the CJI observed.
“A well built structure to accommodate the centre with good library and other facilities would be the basic requirement,” Justice N.V. Ramana said. The city had several hotels to accommodate the international arbitrators, litigants and others coming to the proposed IAC. “International Arbitration Centre in Hyderabad is my dream... I hope it will be a reality,” the CJI said.
He said that soon a software was being introduced in Supreme Court and in some High Courts to ensure judgements were uploaded on the respective websites of the courts soon after pronouncing the verdict. Copies of the verdicts would be sent to the lawyers concerned and the respondents immediately through email.
