Test: Arbitration, Tribunal Adjudication and ADR - 2 - CUET Humanities MCQ

The following matters cannot be referred to arbitration:
(i) disputes relating to rights and liabilities which give rise to or arise out of criminal offences;
(ii) matrimonial disputes relating to divorce, judicial separation, restitution of conjugal rights, child custody;
(iii) guardianship matters;
(iv) insolvency and winding up matters;
(v) testamentary matters (grant of probate, letters of administration and succession certificate); and
(vi) eviction or tenancy matters governed by special statutes where the tenant enjoys statutory protection against eviction and only the specified courts are conferred jurisdiction to grant eviction or decide the disputes.

Jus cogens (or ius cogens) is a latin phrase that literally means compelling law. It designates norms from which no derogation is permitted by way of particular agreements. It stems from the idea already known in Roman law that certain legal rules cannot be contracted out, given the fundamental values they uphold.

An arbitral award rendered in an arbitration may be struck down or invalidated by the courts. The grounds of such invalidation are limited to: incapacity of a party to enter into an arbitration agreement in the first place, improper appointment of the arbitrator, dispute falling outside the terms of the arbitration agreement, bias on the part of the arbitrator, and award violating public policy at large.

The first Lok Adalat was held on March 14, 1982 at Junagarh in Gujarat as a voluntary and conciliatory agency without any statutory backing for its decisions.

Only 19 Indian states have Lokayuktas. Maharashtra was the first state to introduce the institution of Lokayukta in 1971.

Mediation may be triggered in three ways:
(i) Parties may agree to resolve their claims through a pre-agreed mediation agreement without initiating formal judicial proceedings (pre-litigation mediation).
(ii) Parties may agree to mediate at the beginning of formal court proceedings (popularly known as court referrals).
(iii) Mediation may be taken recourse of, after formal court proceedings have started, or even post trial, i.e. at the appellate stage.

Lokpal and Lokayukta were given formal recognition by the passing of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013. The Act applies to the public servants in and outside India. It is important to note that the Act includes in its purview even the current and ex-prime ministers of India except in matters pertaining to international relations external and internal security public order atomic energy and space.

In pursuance of Article 323-A, the Parliament passed the Administrative Tribunals Act in 1985. The Act authorises the Central government to establish one Central administrative tribunal and the State administrative tribunals. This Act opened a new chapter in the sphere of providing speedy and inexpensive justice to the aggrieved public servants.

India follows the adversarial system of legal procedure. This means that the judge acts as a neutral arbiter upholding the balance between the contending rivals without actively taking part in the forensic debate in the court.

Arbitration is a private arrangement of taking disputes to a less adversarial, less formal and more flexible forum and abiding by judgment of a selected person instead of carrying it to the established courts of justice. The following are the different types of arbitration as per the jurisdiction of the case:

• Domestic arbitration
• Foreign arbitration
• International commercial arbitration
• Ad-hoc arbitration
• Statutory arbitration
• Institutional arbitration