FICCI proposes court of arbitration for sports in India

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) in a report titled “India’s Sports Scenario” has proposed the creation of a Court of Arbitration on the lines of the one based in Lusanne, Switzerland. This is in addition to proposing a special legislation to deal with issues like corruption in sports brought to the center-stage by the recent allegations in relation to the Commonwealth Games and Indian Premier League. A press release detailing the suggestions can be accessed here.

Bombay High Court's anti-arbitration stance

A division bench of the Bombay High Court consisting of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice S C Dharmadhikari, allowed an appeal from a single judge, Justice Roshan Dalvi and restrained the World Sport Group ["WSG"] from proceeding with arbitration against MSM Satellite (Singapore) Pte Ltd ["MSM"].

The original agreement between WSG and MSM stated that any dispute between the parties would be settled through arbitration in Singapore under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), following English law.

BCI invites comments on proposed amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act

In previous posts, we had highlighted the proposed amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The Bar Council of India has invited comments on the matter from the general public. The comments can be emailed to feedback@barcouncilofindia.org with "Arbitration and Conciliation Act" in the subject line. More details can be found here.

Incorporation of arbitration clauses by reference: Guest post by Mr. Anirudh Wadhwa

Mr. Anirudh Wadhwa, a lawyer based in Delhi and one of the editors of Justice R.S. Bachawat's Law of Arbitration and Conciliation was kind enough to send us a guest post on incorporation of arbitration clauses by reference. The note centers around the decision of the Supreme Court of India in M.R. Engineers v Som Datt Builders [(2009) 7 SCC 696]. The following is the text of Mr. Wadhwa's post.

It is common for terms, including arbitration clauses, from one contract to be incorporated by reference into another. A strict standard of incorporation is generally preferred in respect of arbitration clauses for three reasons – First, an arbitration clause, is considered independent of the main contract.  Second, arbitration clauses preclude the parties from bringing disputes before judicial fora. Third, an arbitration agreement has to be a “written agreement”. In consideration of these, the accepted view is that a “general” incorporation of the conditions of a contract does not have the effect of incorporating an arbitration clause contained in that contract.