Saturday, February 25 2006 15:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Union Law Minister H R Bhraradwaj today (Feb 25 2006) warned that foreign investments in the country would suffer heavily unless an effective mechanism was evolved to strengthen the aribitration and conciliation proceedings.

Noting that at the international level India's image of justice delivery system was "very poor", the minister suggested constitution of a panel of 100 eminent arbitrators to adjudicate disputes involving Indian and foreign investors.

"Our arbitration laws are very time consuming and expensive. Foreign investors come here to make profits. They do not invest money to lose it. So its time we strengthened our arbitration mechanism to attract more international investments," the minister said addressing the international conference on "Arbitration: The Indian Experience & Global Trends" organised by the ASSOCHAM.

The minister asked organisations like the ASSOCHAM to help the government in setting up a special panel of over 100 eminent arbitrators consisting of retired Supreme Court and High Court judges to conduct arbitration proceedings for settling corporate disputes.

Bharadwaj maintained that arbitration proceedings were not only essential to reduce the burden on the regular courts but were needed for speedy and specialised settlement of commerical disputes.

Supreme Court judge Justice B N Srikrishna suggested amendements to the various provisons of the 1996 Arbitration Act as the proceedings were not only expensive but also time consuming.