Jammu & Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal, constituted an “Arbitration Committee” for the annexed Jammu and Kashmir International Arbitration Centre.
The committee was constituted by Chief Justice in exercise of the powers under Rule 3 of the Jammu & Kashmir International Centre (Internal Management) Rules, 2020.
The Committee comprises of:
- Justice Sindhu Sharma;
- Justice Rajnesh Oswal;
- Justice Javed Iqbal Wani;
- D. C. Raina; AG for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir;
- Mr. Vishal Sharma, ASG of India, attached to Jammu Wing of the High Court;
- Tahir Majid Shamsi, ASG of India, attached to Srinagar Wing of the High Court;
- Gaurav Pachnanda, Senior Advocate;
- Abhinav Bushan, Regional Director for South Asia, ICC Arbitration and ADR, ICC International Court of Arbitration, Singapore and
- Moazzam Khan, Advocate, Head Global Litigation, Nishith Desai Associates.
Pertinently, according to the Jammu & Kashmir International Arbitration Centre (Internal Management) Rules, 2020 the Chief Justice is the Patron-in-chief of the Jammu & Kashmir International Arbitration Centre (JKIAC).
According to Rule 3.1 (a), the Chief Justice has the power to nominate three Judges of the Common High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as members of the said committee.
According to Rule 3.1 (b), Advocate General for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and under Rule 3.1 (c) Assistant Solicitor General of India attached to the Common High Court of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are also members of the committee.
Rule 3.1(d) further empowers the Chief Justice to nominate three more members of the committee out of whom at least one shall be designated Senior Advocate, while the others may be any arbitration expert, in India or abroad.
A few days back, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir accorded an approval to the setting up of High Court annexed Arbitration centers at Srinagar and Jammu and to ensure that the constitution of such centre is smooth and effective.
Pertinently, the courts annexed Arbitration Centres are successfully functioning at Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Chennai (Madras) and Cuttack (Orissa).
“The setting up of Jammu and Kashmir International Arbitration Centre shall go a long way in achieving the objective behind enactment of Section 89 Civil Procedure Code and at the same time shall ensure that arbitration proceedings remain inexpensive and are carried out within the shortest possible time” the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir said.