Confidentiality is taken into account collectively of the key reasons why parties opt to opt for arbitration for settlement of their disputes as they are doing not need their disputes to be a subject of give-and-take. Considering the careful documents and the knowledge that parties exchange in Associate in Nursing arbitration, the thought is to shield the sensitive data, trade secrets, holding might which can be the subject matter of Associate in Nursing arbitration as its revelation may lead to irreparable loss. For the preceding reason, arbitration proceedings area unit unbroken confidential. However, is confidentiality much possible? what’s the legal basis of confidentiality? what’s its scope and what area unit the implications if it’s broken by a party? One of the major expectations of arbitration, namely, confidentiality, inflicts on arbitrators and the parties, the obligation to respect the confidentiality of arbitration. Section 42-A errs to deal with this interest as it lags the commitment of third parties to keep the arbitral record confidential.
UNICTRAL Model Law (Model Law) in 2006 entrusted arbitral tribunals to grant interim recourse to parties, a digit of arbitration institutions such as the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) have altered their rules to provide parties with the antidote of emergency arbitration. The substantial upgrade in the position of international trade in the economic development of nations over the last few decades has been accompanied by a considerable increase in the number of commercial disputes as well. In India too, the abrupt economic globalization & the transpiring accumulation in competition has headed to an expansion in commercial disputes. Identically, however, the proportion of industrial growth, modernization, and restoration of socio-economic circumstances has, in many instances, outpaced the rate of transition of dispute resolution mechanisms. In many parts of India, brisk development has intensified caseloads for already overburdened courts, further leading to notoriously listless adjudication of commercial disputes. As a consequence, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, enclosing arbitration, have become more indispensable for businesses operating in India as well as those doing businesses with Indian firms. There has been only a modicum of cases in India which review the enforceability of the award ratified by an emergency arbitrator. The Bench of the Ld. Single Judge of the Delhi High Court, in its acting order dated 21 December 2020, examined & attributed how the award passed by the emergency arbitrator is enforceable in India.
BACKGROUND
Section 75 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 lets out that the parties shall keep confidential all issues about the conciliation. However, the provision does not apply to arbitration proceedings and applies only to conciliation proceedings. Even though there was no statutory referendum in the 1996 Act, there was an implied duty of confidentiality for various reasons including protection of sensitive evidence or intellectual property, etc., the reputation of parties in public, protection from potential declarations in similar matters, no intervention of independent parties, etc. Apart from the parties to the arbitration proceedings, some outsiders are strangers to the agreement but still sit in the arbitration proceedings They are not ruled by the arbitration agreement & have backing to confidential information delivered in the arbitration. Section 42-A wanes to honor this skepticism as it lasts to be voiceless on the obligation of these third parties to conserve the arbitral document confidentiality. The language of the section only imposes confidentiality on the parties, arbitrator and the arbitral establishment. The terminology of the domain only exacts hideaway on the parties, arbitrator and the arbitral institution in compliance with Section 14,15 & 37.
CONCEPT OF EMERGENCY ARBITRATION
Emergency arbitration is like a mode of interim relief, it’s a very forthcoming concept in the realm of arbitration, it’s mostly applicable for the parties that expect to insulate the investments and testimony that might otherwise be lost or diversified so it’s, an emergency arbitration is a game of time. It’s a very temporary and emergency arbitration like any other ADR mechanism that derives its power from the arbitration agreement itself. So, the main role of emergency arbitration comes up when there is no arbitral tribunal in place, or, there is a situation when setting up an arbitral tribunal will take a lot of time and there is no such time. emergency arbitration is the emergency arbitral tribunal is constituted only mostly two situations one, when there is no tribunal in place, and second when the situation is such that there is no time to appoint and go through the entire appointment procedure of the tribunal.
Instead of approaching the national courts, the parties can opt for an arbitrator game to save a lot of time. So, it’s the Tribunal is constituted for a limited period, or for a very limited purpose so as soon as the purpose is served or the timeframe in which the issues had to be decided. They lapse, the arbitration ends the emergency arbitration ends there itself. Emergency Arbitration is based on the concept of “urgent pro tem or conservatory measures.” In other words, it is for the parties who cannot await the long-drawn formation and composition of an Arbitral Tribunal. The reason behind the same is their need for interim relief at the earliest time frame possible, to either protect their position or to prevent the other party from the continuation of the breach they committed until the issue is finally adjudicated. It is agreeable that the Courts are capable of granting interim reliefs as well, but the same comes at the cost of compromise in efficiency and confidentiality, which neither of the parties may appreciate. Two legitimate mottoes that form its genesis are: firstly, the reasonable possibility that the claimant would succeed on merits fumus boni suggested amendments, such as the amendment to Section 9 of the Principal Act and so on, the initial concern of EA was not addressed.
DISCERNIBLE FAILURE OF STATUTORY IMPLEMENTATION OF EA IN INDIA
Future Retail Limited (“FRL”) is a listed corporation amassing retail chains in more than 400 cities across India. In spite of having such a flourishing business, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an overwhelming concussion on it. This had ensued in a rapid attrition of FRL’s assets. Subsequently, pertaining to this circumstance, FRL had agreed with Reliance Industries. Subsidiary this pact, the latter had rented out to compile the retail, wholesale, logistic and warehousing business of FRL. Besides, Reliance had agreed to discharge the liabilities, as well as invest in the concerned company. This transaction, as foreseen by the FRL, would deflect the company from getting on into liquidation. Moreover, the agreement would also sustain Amazon that has stakes in Future Coupons Pvt. Ltd (“FCPL”). In spite of these reasons, Amazon had lifted up an objection before the SEBI. In the fuss letter, Amazon voiced that the aforementioned transaction violated its contractual liberties, that is, its shareholder agreement (“SHA”), that had been entered into with the FCPL. Henceforth, to plop a clasp on the transaction, Amazon instituted emergency arbitration proceedings, as furnished in the SHA, under the SIAC Rules. This had transpired in an interim award being rendered, which purported to injunct FRL from progressing with the transaction entered into with Reliance Industries. India does not have any provisions distressing EA. Although the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act of 2015 suggested amendments, such as Section 9 of the Principal Act and so on, the primary concern of EA was not addressed. Before this, the Law Commission of India, in its 246th Report, lucidly suggested the need for a concept of “Emergency Arbitrator”. The Commission intended to bring this under the ambit of Section 2, which defines an Arbitral Tribunal, by broadening the definition and including the concept of EA. However, as already witnessed from the Amendment Act of 2015, the same was not incorporated.
THE ELEMENT OF THE DISPUTATION
As per the outlay of the SHA between Amazon and Future Coupons, Amazon is to acquire 49% of its share capital. The indicated agreement also retains a roster of “restricted persons”, reeling off certain commodities with whom Future Group was not allowed off to come into any agreement. Despite these underlying provisions, Future Group entered into a transaction selling certain assets to Reliance, which is a part of Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani Group, to save itself from becoming insolvent. It is also vital to recount through this acquisition, Reliance strives to acquire not only Future Group’s Retail assets but also its liabilities amounting to closely Rs 12,801 crores. In addition to this, Reliance has also conceded to fund a sum of Rs 2800 crores into the merged entity which, besides others, will be utilized to pay Future Group’s residual liabilities. Therefore, it is striking that this transaction will avert Future Group’s insolvency and, in the event, the transaction flunks, Future Group will indisputably go into liquidation. Amazon contends that Future Group oversteps the overheads of the SHA by entering into a sale the transaction with Reliance, as Reliance falls under the category of restricted persons enumerated in the agreement. Future Group contends that it is Amazon that stands in violation of the ForeignExchange Management Act (FEMA)-Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Rules. Reading the conflation of agreements between Amazon and Future Group, Future Group contended that besides, Amazon, creating protective rights it is transgressing into controlling Future Retail, which requires prior approvals of the Government. Bereft such endorsements Amazon would be in violation of FEMA-FDI Rules. Relying on Hira Lal Patni v. Sri Kali Nath and Sushil Kumar Mehta the Court said that prima facie the present suit cannot be held to be not maintainable on two grounds: the EA order cannot be challenged in the present proceedings and secondly, that the grounds urged by FRL before have already been urged and considered by the Emergency Arbitrator. The arbitration between FCPL and Amazon is an International Commercial Arbitration placed in New Delhi, India and overseen by Part I of the A&C Act, however, conducted in conformity with SIAC Rules. Relying on NTPC v. Singer, the Court declared that while it is perfectly legal for the parties to choose a different procedural law, the issue which is required to be considered is whether the provisions of Emergency Arbitration of such procedural law, are in any manner contrary cannot be restricted to mean that the parties agreed to arbitrate before an arbitral tribunal only and not an Emergency Arbitrator.
PERTINENCE OF ARBITRATION
The relevance of arbitration often arises in situations where a party is up, one sits constrained to seek and cut back relief. The principle of seeking an interim relief is a substantial notion in the field of arbitration, and instead of, like, oh, it’s a very settled principle of law that any court of law or any arbitral tribunal can only grant such interim relief that isn’t able to find relief. The arbitrary emergency arbitrator gives interim relief that interim Relief has to be the limited purpose of that interim Relief has to be in the aid of the final release. So, the final release will be given by the normal arbitral tribunal, which could be constituted later, but it is basically in continuation. The wavering in cases where arbitration is being passed by the courts to the tribunal where the arbitration is referred, the courts to the tribunal takes a lot of time because the courts have to examine these, they discuss the validity of the agreement clause. So, all of it takes a lot of time, even when sometimes the Tribunal has appointed the proceedings are very consuming, so they cause delay. Also, the damages to the aggrieved party. In such cases, one party can seek emergency arbitration. So, the functioning of the tribunal is limited when the functioning of the courts, like in the present scenario is limited, a lot of parties have opted for emergency arbitration just to save time and get immediate relief sometimes they have to get the assets frozen or have the other side of the other party, or they need a very important state. So, in that case, they can invoke emergency arbitration.
CONUNDRUMS CONCERNING POTENTIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF EA IN INDIA
Firstly, the conundrum of enforceability of EA Awards remains a grey area. Chapter I and II of the Amendment Act of 2015, the foreign awards passed through the New York Convention and the Geneva Convention respectively are enforceable. However, the fix that emanates is that these two conventions discern the recommendations given under the 246th Law Commission Report and the amendment proposed by it in Section 2(1)(d) of the Act would bring India on to the same pedestal as other countries and help attain the global trend for Emergency Arbitrations. The dilemma can be etched in two ways, one in which the seat is in India and the other when the seat of arbitration is decided as a foreign state. The main problem arises in the case of foreign seated arbitration, as Domestic Arbitration Tribunal, emergency orders can be enforced under Section 17(2) of the Act. There remain many more ambiguities concerning India’s take on Emergency Arbitration. For instance, speculating that Emergency Arbitration is doable only under the ambit of institutional arbitration, what will be the outcome when a party has chosen for ad-hoc instead of institutional arbitration, can the party invoke Emergency Arbitration using such an agreement? In such a scenario, should the Courts be conferred the power to appoint an Emergency Arbitrator? Will the parties have to embark into a separate agreement to choose arbitral institutions for providing an Emergency Arbitrator? In the absence of regulatory legislation governing this aspect and judicial clarification, answering such questions is certainly not easy. With the amendments brought by the 2015 Act and the subsequent Arbitration and Conciliation Amendment Bill of 2018 being silent about the assorted concerns scrutinizing Emergency Arbitration, parties, for now, are without guidance as to how they should proceed with Emergency Arbitration if at all. However, it is germane to note that if enforceability of final adjudicated matters only, not EA-related matters. Therefore, the same mandates an address by the Indian Statute. In such a scenario, International Conventions like ICDR, ICC, SIAC, SCC and LCIA that have introduced the concept of Emergency Arbitrator Procedures can be referred to. The second conundrum that we may observe with respect to EA is the Court’s jurisdiction on the non-concerned parties. In other words, we observe that the Courts have the power and jurisdiction to entertain parties other than the two main parties in a suit before Civil Courts under the Civil Procedure Code. However, the same does not seem possible in EA because of the principle of party autonomy. Only those two parties that have signed the arbitration clause/agreement are bound by their respective Arbitration Agreement. Confidentiality of the matter and prevention of interference by any other party is also important. In such a scenario, either the EA is given special powers regarding the same, or any other provision may be made that specifically speaks out about the mandatory inclusion of an EA clause in an Arbitration Agreement to enforce the same.
CONCLUSION & THE WAY FORWARD
The predicaments employing Emergency Arbitration have been increasing globally in massive numbers, however, most of the jurisdictions have failed to cope up with the same. The interim reliefs given by the Emergency Arbitrators are uncertain and many at times, with no enforceability. That is precisely the reason the parties are bound to approach national courts. The Indian arbitration law does eventually embrace Emergency Arbitration, catch-all phrases in the enumeration of interim measures granted by Tribunals should be substituted with a more illustrative rather than an exhaustive list similar to the English Arbitration Act, 1996. Considering that the concept of Emergency Arbitration is at a nascent stage, it certainly does not come without obstacles. It is definitely hoped that with the various arbitration institutions providing for Emergency Arbitration and the Government’s push towards institutional arbitration as highlighted in the Arbitration Amendment Bill, 2018, the incorporation of provisions dealing with Emergency Arbitration in the Indian legislation will be encouraged in the near future.
