Arbitrators or money-minters

law@#

According to reports and inputs, usually retired judges of higher courts are appointed as arbitrators especially in cases involving huge monetary values. But these arbitrators charge very heavily usually for every hearing they conduct. Rather in case both the parties wish to seek adjournment, even then these arbitrators fix a date for adjourning the case so that parties may have to bear costs for useless date of hearing. Cases are dragged for years and years mainly because arbitrators do not want early disposal of cases in their self-interest for minting more and more money per hearing of the cases. In many cases government is the party to the disputes. Such delayed arbitration-proceedings result in heavy loss to the public-exchequers because government has to pay additional heavy interest on the settled award-money to the opposite party because of such delayed arbitration-proceedings. Such abnormal delays in disposal of cases by arbitrators on the other side causes big financial crunch sometimes even resulting into bankruptcy because of extra-ordinarily delayed arbitration-awards. Perhaps this may the reason that many judges including Chief justice of India decline post-retirement assignments finding becoming arbitrators more advantageous monetarily rather than to chair any Commission. Extra-ordinarily delayed arbitration-awards at times keep country deprived of foreign investments. Department of Justice should verify all these aspects. In case there is truth in these reports, then concrete steps should be taken to put an effective check on arbitrators by fixing a maximum time-limit of say one year for disposal of cases. There should also be some maximum limit for total arbitration-fees to be charged in one single case of arbitration. It is ridiculous that some arbitrators continue with arbitration-work even till very old age. There must be some upper-age limit for a person to act as an arbitrator.

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