CJI Surya Kant Flags 6-year Delay In Constitution of Arbitration Council

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has flagged the continued non-constitution of the Arbitration Council of India, even six years after parliament provided for its establishment.

"Six years later, it has still not been constituted. A further Draft Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, circulated for public consultation in October 2024 on the recommendations of the Viswanathan Committee, remains exactly that, and its new avatar is hopefully now being introduced in Parliament..If our ambition is to become a preferred seat, this gap between announcement and implementation is precisely the credibility deficit we cannot legislate our way out of," CJI said.

CJI Kant called for a comprehensive overhaul of India’s alternative dispute resolution framework, stressing that the country must build an architecture of trust that inspires confidence beyond conventional courtrooms.

Justice Kant yesterday delivering the inaugural address at the ADR Summit 2026 organised to mark the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Indian Institute of Arbitration & Mediation in New Delhi on Friday.

A two-day summit, themed “Reimagining ADR: Innovation, Technology & the Future of Justice,” brought together judges, arbitrators, mediators, legal practitioners, corporate leaders and other stakeholders to deliberate on the future of arbitration, mediation and digital dispute resolution in India.

"Courts undoubtedly remain indispensable guardians of rights that cannot be bargained away. But not every dispute needs a judicial verdict. Many need only to be properly understood and harmonised....It is, therefore, encouraging that India is moving, however unevenly, towards treating ADR not as a lesser substitute for justice but as one of its ordinary pathways and a reliable pillar," the CJI said.

On Mediation, CJI Kant said its future in India depends on the professionalisation of mediator training and accreditation, greater willingness among businesses to include mediation clauses in commercial agreements and India’s ratification of the Singapore Convention on Mediation.

“Artificial Intelligence may triage a dispute, organise evidence, or draft a first translation, but the moment it begins to weigh one party’s equities against another’s, it has stopped assisting and started deciding, and no algorithm has yet earned the ability or authority to do that quietly," CJI cautioned on the use of AI in dispute resolution.

In April this year, at the 5th Edition of the ICA International Conference on “Arbitration in the Era of Globalization: Legal Technology, Economic Development & Cross-Border Disputes,” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had delivered a forward-looking address positioning arbitration as central to the stability of global commerce and India’s aspirations as a preferred dispute resolution hub.

Departing from the conventional understanding of arbitration as an “alternative” mechanism, the Chief Justice had described it instead as an “other and preferred” pathway. This conceptual shift, he suggested, reflects the growing reliance of modern commerce on arbitration to ensure continuity and predictability in cross-border transactions. Arbitration, in this sense, is no longer supplementary but foundational to commercial stability.