Tuesday, 8th March, 2022
The Supreme Court on Tuesday set about to
resolve the conundrum around the fixation of arbitrator’s fee in India, as
attorney general KK Venugopal implored the court to rationalise the fee structure
in view of the predicament being faced by the public sector undertakings (PSUs)
over the exorbitant demands made by the arbitrators.
Retired Supreme Court and high court judges
are usually appointed as arbitrators.
Directing listing of all the cases pertaining
to the issue of ceiling on arbitrator’s fee, a bench headed by Chief Justice of
India NV Ramana agreed to examine the mandatory nature of the model schedule of
fee for the arbitrators, prescribed under the Fourth Schedule of the
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
The bench, which also comprised justices AS
Bopanna and Hima Kohli, noted that the contentions around the applicability of
the Fourth Schedule and arbitration proceedings become disproportionately
expensive for the parties need to be finally settled in the wake of growing
complaints against the arbitrator’s fee.
The order followed arguments by Venugopal,
who raised concerns about the “exorbitant and arbitrary” fee charged by the
arbitrators and urged the bench to lay down uniform yardsticks across the
board.