World`s attention to corruption in Indian courts: The Pioneer

New Delhi, Dec 19: Corruption in Indian judiciary has succeeded to draw attention of international community with their United States counterpart's advice to provide adequate salary and sufficient time to address issues.

Adducing that there has never been an instance of corruption in American judiciary, Justice Breyer, a US Supreme Court judge, reminded that judges have onerous responsibility towards people. He gave twin suggestions to the judiciary in India to keep away judges from looking "elsewhere".
"It would be terrible and shame if someone is being caught, people depend on you. They depend on you for honest effort," he said elaborating that a judge is a high official and has a face and if you solve someone's problem it is satisfying.

While addressing the apex court judges in Bhopal on Monday, Justice Breyer appreciated the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism of arbitration, mediation and conciliation adopted by courts in India to bring down the backlog of cases.

The federal judge, who is in India as a part of the exchange programme started by the Supreme Court in 1995, answered queries on the issue of death penalty saying "it is not unconstitutional per se". He said, "Never the court (in the US) said it is unconstitutional," in spite of opposition to capital punishment by human right groups.
While replying to the question of judicial activism, he said the rift between legislature and judiciary is not much in the US and dealing with matters of public interest the rigorous rule of "concrete injury" (a person who is affected directly) followed.

Asked by veteran advocate Soli J Sorabjee about the cases that gave him sleepless nights in deciding, the judge replied that the election dispute surrounding President George Bush and Al Gore was one such case.

The second one was the issue of affirmative action whether any concession could be given on racial consideration for admission to universities.

Permanent Court of Arbitration to open Indian centre

Foreign companies hesitant of investing in India, due to absence of a proper arbitration forum, can heave a sigh of relief as Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague, is going to open its regional centre in India by the end of this year.

Though liberalisation opened doors to the multinationals to invest here, absence of a proper arbitration forum compelled them to knock the doors of The Hague court in the event of dispute. The law ministry has accepted the offer made by The Hague-based PCA headquarters and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is being worked out.
"The offer has been made by PCA, The Hague. Delhi has been selected apparently because there is a swell in disputes because of globalisation and investments by the multinationals in the south Asia region," T.K. Viswanathan, Secretary, Legal Affairs, the Ministry of Law and Justice, said.

The opening of regional PCA centre also means a bigtime opportunity for the a large legal talent pool here which comprises the arbitration experts and the retired judges presiding over the arbitration courts.

Viswanathan said the foreign investors, who now essentially have arbitration clause in all their agreements, have been hesitant because of a proper arbitration forum in India in the event of dispute. "So far there have been only ad hoc arbitration, but no institutional arbitration.

This was quite time consuming and also quality is poor," Viswanathan said. "This was one reason why companies chose to travel abroad, invariably to The Hague, to settle the disputes," he said, adding this has been a deterrent for the companies planning to invest in India.

"With PCA centre coming here, it will not only help us to develop our institutional arbitration system but also be cost- effective and have high standards," the Secretary said.

Terming it a "great step forward" former Chief Justice of India P N Bhagwati who has been a leading jurist at The Hague court, said opening of PCA in India is not only recognition of India's legal talent, but is also healthy signal to the foreign investors.

"It is a very positive sign for India's economic growth as the foreign companies had to go all the way to The Hague to settle the disputes," Bhagwati said.

The ministry officials said the The Hague court secretary-general made the offer to India in recognition to it's support for peaceful resolution of disputes in compliance with the international law.

The Hague was convinced India would be able to run an international standard court in Delhi. The Delhi-based PCA office, its arbiters, staff and officials will enjoy the same immunity and privileges as those of United Nations office and officials, the officials added.

Observing that countries like Singapore are emerging as major economic hubs, Viswanathan hoped the India will emerge as "hub of international arbitration" and bulk of cases going to The Hague from the region will be diverted here.

The PCA centre is likely to function from the International Centre for Alternate Dispute Redressal in Vasant Kunj, after the MoU has been forged by the end of this year, Viswanathan said.

Outside The Hague, the PCA has a centre in Costa Rica to cater to the Latin American countries. PCA headquarters is also signing an MoU with South Africa for international arbitration court for the African countries.

"The regional facility here will be capable for providing the same quality service as of PCA, The Hague," he said. He said the mission of the regional facility in Delhi would be to promote the use by the State and non-State parties and private parties the South Asia of PCA's mechanism of dispute resolution as conceived in the United Nations charter.

The high-level delegation from the either side will visit the other and sign the MoU. More than 2.85 crore cases are pending in the high courts and subordinates courts across India, and over 33 thousand are pending in the Supreme Court.

The government is banking heavily on Alternate Distribution Redressal mechanism to settle the disputes through arbitration, negotiations, mediation and conciliation.

PIA to seek arbitration in dispute with Saudi prince

Airlines (PIA) is to seek arbitration for resolving its dispute with Saudi Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz Saud over the sale of his one percent share in the airline's subsidiary PIA Investments Limited (PIAIL).

The move comes after a New York court Wednesday dismissed the prince's lawsuit against the airline.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper Thursday quoted PIA chairman Zaffar A. Khan as saying the airline would seek arbitration in accordance with the shareholders' agreement.
The Saudi prince, who holds 7,200 shares in PIAIL, which owns and manages the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan and the Hotel Scribe in Paris, had in his lawsuit accused PIA of interfering with his attempt to sell his shares.

Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the court of the Southern District of New York dismissed the plea.

Faisal had wanted to sell his shares for $8.6 million to Alpha Capital MC Limited and intimated his intention to PIAIL in March this year, offering the stock at the same price to the airline's investment unit under his shareholder agreement of 1979.

On its part, PIAIL initiated the redemption process of the prince's shares for $480,000 - much less than the offer he had received from the third party.

Dismissing the lawsuit, the judge observed that the plaintiff was a citizen and resident of Saudi Arabia and had not demonstrated any connections to New York.

Besides, the judge noted, the transactions had taken place abroad as did the alleged wrongdoing on the part of foreign defendants (PIA and PIAIL) and the law applicable was also foreign.

The judge also rejected the plaintiff's contention that courts in British Virgin Islands, where PIA is registered, were ill-equipped to handle the dispute since the plaintiff had a pending suit in the Islands and had agreed to invest in a corporation registered there.

Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj on Friday envisaged India's emergence as a hub of international arbitration saying the country had better legal skills than anywhere else in the world.

Inaugurating a two-day international seminar on arbitration, Bhardwaj also exhorted the country's legal professionals to provide efficient services to Indian entrepreneurs to save them from signing legally infirm contracts with their business partners abroad.
The minister said: 'It is my dream that India should emerge as a hub of international arbitration.

'We have better legal skills than those in other parts of the world. Our lawyers and judges are second to none. There is an urgent need to develop institutional arbitration and I am happy that the Indian council for Arbitration is taking the lead.'

'There is also an urgent need of creating awareness on the arbitral process amongst the Indian legal fraternity for the creation of a new brand of arbitrators and practitioners who will be devoted full time to the arbitration process instead of treating arbitration as part time profession,' the minister said.

'If we succeed in doing this I am sure we can emerge as a legal giant and be able to leverage our legal knowledge to global advantage,' he said.

'I personally would like to say that the time has come when India should seriously contemplate a separate bar for arbitration since it is so much in demand,' Bhardwaj said.
He exhorted the legal fraternity to provide legal services to Indian entrepreneurs, both in the country and abroad. 'Our entrepreneurs engaged in international trade and commerce are doing yeomen service to the country. I request the legal community to provide them apt and efficient legal service at various stages including at the stage of signing contracts with the firm abroad.'

Dwelling upon the worldwide growth of arbitration process along with the rising international trade and commerce, FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) president Habil Khorakiwala said earlier: 'With the economic liberalisation and the opening up of the Indian economy there is a phenomenal growth in international trade, investment, transfer of technology etc.'

'Users of arbitration system are growing at a phenomenal rate with the country's domestic growth being nine percent for the last few years and Indians investing about 20 billion dollars outside India, acquiring global firms,' he said.

The two-day seminar on 'Critical Issues in International Commercial Arbitration' is being attended by over 500 participants from 22 countries. Around 60 serving judges of the apex court and high courts in the country are also attending.

The international legal luminaries attending include Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice Arijit Pasayat of the Supreme Court, former chief justice R.C. Lahoti, eminent jurists Fali S. Nariman and K.K. Venugopal, International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI) president Ulf Franke and London's Essex Court's Chambers Toby Landau.
The seminar is being jointly hosted by Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA), Ficci and International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI).

OUTSIDERS TO ENTER DOMESTIC LEGAL MARKET

The law firms of India are frowning over foreign law firms to enter the domestic market, as the government is planning to open up legal services in phrases. This planning of government will allow the foreign firms to provide consultancy in India on their national law and also advise multinationals in India on the legal implications in other countries on account of local developments. The impact of this will be that the Indian companies going for overseas business, tapping funds in other countries, or forgoing foreign JVs will get legal consultancy in India only. Foreign law firms could also forge partnerships with Indian counterparts, for which the impact will be that JVs will enable Indian law professionals to tap overseas business over a period as they interact with foreign partners.