HC sets aside GO 126 allotting 3.7 acres for International Arbitration Centre
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court division bench of Justices Kunuru Lakshman and Kalasikam Sujana on Friday 'set aside' GO 126, dated December 26-2021, allotting 3.7-acre prime land worth crores, located in Plot no.27, Survey no. 83/1, Raidurg village, Serilingampally mandal, RR district to the International Arbitration and Mediation Centre, Hyderabad.
Though the court upheld GO 76 dated November 12 sanctioning Rs. 3 crore to meet the day-to-day expenditure of the centre and GO 6, dated March 17, 2022 wherein the Chief Secretary directed all departments and public sector undertakings to refer all its disputes above 3 crore to the IAMC for arbitration.
The bench passed orders setting aside GO allotting 3.7 acres to IAMC, while adjudicating two PILs. The first PIL was filed by Koti Raghuntha Rao, party-in-person; the other was filed by A Venkatarami Reddy, a retired employee. The bench concluded the IAMC--which has been functioning since 2021--performance is abysmal. It expressed deep concern regarding its performance in future. As on January 29 this year the IAMC took up only 15 cases of which 11 were conducted pro-bono; only 57 mediation cases were conducted; of them 17 were conducted pro-bono.
The bench cautioned the government to examine incurring of costs by referring cases to IAMC; directed the government to alter its policy of referring cases to IAMC, if costs prove a burden to the exchequer.
The bench opined that it is the policy decision of the government to extend financial assistance to a new institution like IAMC at initial stage, but as time goes by, IAMC has to sustain itself financially. But going by its performance for the last five years, the bench stated that its sustenance is difficult in the long run.
The bench referred to setting up of 'ICADR' (International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution) centre formed by the Government of India in 1995 to promote arbitration, but due to its abysmal performance, despite financial support, ICADR could not deliver results. The court hoped the IAMC does not go the ICADR way. Both PILs were closed.
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