judgment A & C Act 1996

In this application under Section 12,13,14 and 15 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, (hereinafter be referred to as `Act' only) the petitioner prays for termination of the mandate of the sole arbitrator-respondent No.4 and appointment of another Arbitrator in his place, preferably a retired Judge.

The Courts should be always slow in terminating the mandate of an appointed Arbitrator as it results in delay of the arbitral proceedings. It is true that an Arbitrator should scrupulously avoid giving any impression that he is not independent or impartial and must disclose to the parties the circumstance, if any, referred to in Clause (1) of Section 12 of the Act but the Courts while considering such a petition should objectively examine as to whether there is any real danger of bias and the complainants apprehensions are well founded.