International Arbitration and Media Centre (IAMC), a brainchild of Supreme Court Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and being set up by a trust in Hyderabad, will be inaugurated on December 18.
Announcing this at a curtain-raising conclave on the Centre, the apex court CJ said the Centre would operate from two floors of a multi-storied building in financial district of Gachchibowli here. Eventually, it would be shifted into an own building of the trust for which land was allotted in Puppalaguda, nearly 12 km from Gachchibowli.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was special guest at the conclave and expressed gratitude to the CJ on behalf of Telangana people for choosing Hyderabad to set up the Centre, announced that a land parcel was allotted for the construction of building for the Centre.
He assured that all other necessary help would be extended to the Trust in smooth operation of the Centre from Hyderabad.
Arbitration and mediation were the preferred dispute resolution mechanisms these days all over the world due to various factors. International arbitration centres of the world were located in commercial city hubs like there at London, Paris, Singapore, New York and Stockholm. Despite availability of such centres in the country, litigants from the country were choosing international centres to resolve their disputes incurring huge expenditure, the CJ said. The establishment of International Arbitration and Media Centre in Hyderabad would change that trend, he hoped.
The Centre would have the best infrastructure and world acclaimed international arbitrators would be its panellists. By adopting best practices in the world of arbitration of commercial disputes, the Centre would become an institution on a par with that of London and Singapore, the Chief Justice said. The CJ said that initially he thought of starting a personal arbitration centre but after interacting with some of his colleagues the concept grew into a bigger canvass. Thus the IAMC idea evolved and the swift and positive response from Telangana CM turned it into a reality even quicker, the Chief Justice said.
The present alternative dispute resolution systems stemmed from methods of settlement of disputes by village elders practised in olden days, KCR said. Ease of doing business and enforcing contracts were crucial for financial progress. Unfortunately, the country was lagging behind in enforcement of contracts.
Hyderabad emerged a global city in recent past and naturally the best option for location of IAMC. Due to a variety of structural reasons including inadequate number of courts and judges, litigation was getting prolonged. The proposed IAMC would of great help in resolving commercial disputes in this backdrop, he said.
SC judges L. Nageswara Rao, Hima Kohli, R. Subhash Reddy and P.S. Narasimha, Telangana HC CJ Satish Chandra Sharma, AP HC Prashant Kumar Mishra, former judges of the SC R.V. Raveendran, judges of AP and Telangana High Courts, Telangana Ministers K.T. Rama Rao, Indrakaran Reddy and Mahmood Ali were present.
