Selection of an Arbitrator
The qualified advocates or scholars or a jurist who are capable to coordinate and administer justice by arbitration is an Arbitrator. They act as a neutral third person who decides over the facts of the case to draft the arbitral award.
The definition of an Arbitrator goes like, a private extraordinary judge chosen by the parties who have a matter in dispute, invested with power to decide the same. Arbitrators are also called because they have generally an arbitrary power, there being in common no appeal from their sentences, which are called awards.
Different institution provides certain qualifications guidelines to select arbitrator. Considering the arbitration a law-driven process, the arbitrator has to be an expert of the legal fraternity. Mainly, the Arbitrator is an aged and experienced lawyer or a judge. However, there is a scarcity of trained arbitrators since Arbitration is a relatively new process. Some institutes provide trained arbitration services, many young talented individuals are trained to become arbitrators. There are some organizations like The Charted Institute of Arbitrators, The International Chambers of Commerce, Permanent Court of Arbitration, and International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes. provides cutting edge for Arbitration Facilities.
The process of selecting arbitrator depends upon the arbitration agreement. Some agreements provide that the arbitrator will be selected through an arbitration institution’s process, such as the American Arbitration Association or the International chamber of Commerce. Similarly, if the agreement incorporates institution’s rules, that institution’s process will be used. If the agreement is an ad hoc agreement, the parties must pursue the provisions in the agreement and try to reach an agreement on the arbitrator(s).
Section 11 of Chapter 3 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 is linked to the appointment of arbitration. Features of the section of arbitrator under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996;
Section 10 of the Act gives absolute independence to the parties to choose the arbitrators for the formulation of the arbitral tribunal.
The arbitral tribunal should always comprise of an odd numbers of arbitrators. When the parties to a dispute have different choices for arbitrators, the chosen arbitrators are given authority to choose a presiding arbitrator.
When the parties cannot come to a unified of an arbitrator and all techniques of choosing an arbitrator fails the Supreme Court and the High Court are given the authority to be an arbitrator.
To protect the appointment of an unbiased and neutral arbitrator is the sole purpose of this provision. A list of grounds giving rise to justifiable doubts as to the independence or impartially of an arbitrator and the grounds which make a person disqualified to be appointed as an arbitrator is given in schedule 5 and 7 respectively.
Provided in the Act, In International Commercial Arbitration, an arbitrator of a nationality other than the nationalities of the parties may be nominated as arbitrator. Expeditious disposal of application for appointment of an arbitrator is stressed by the Act and an Endeavour shall be made to dispose of the dispose of the matter within a period of 60 days from the date of service of notice on the contrary party.
Additionally some of the factors to keep in mind while choosing an arbitrator:-
An arbitrator having manageable amount of workload or caseload.
An arbitrator with the requisite legal and professional expertise.
Take into consideration the Arbitrator’s nationality.
Select an arbitrator who is having good managerial skills.
Conclusion
There is complete independence over the selection of the Arbitrator for the parties. It is indeed different from the selection of judges in the Court of Law, because here the parties too are involved in selecting the arbitrator unlike in Courts. Arbitral Awards sometimes maybe party-based unlike judicial orders. Furthermore, the selection process of them is smooth-running with the arrival of the organizations providing alternative dispute resolution services. No doubt the future is bright for the upcoming generation in the field of arbitration as a new generation of trained individuals are getting ready.