High Court to partially resume functioning of its International Arbitration Centre; via video conferencing

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday said that it has decided to partially resume functioning of Delhi International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) from June 8 by conducting hearings through video conferencing as due to COVID-19 conducting proceedings physically was "not feasible". In a notification and a guidance note issued by the Registrar General's office, it is said that the high court's Arbitration Committee in a meeting held on May 30 took the decision for partial resumption of functioning of DIAC which is located within the Delhi High Court complex.

"Given the situation caused by COVID-19, physically conducting the arbitration proceedings in DIAC are not feasible. The Committee for preparation of Graded Action Plan of the Delhi High Court, in its meeting held on May 14 directed DIAC to start taking up matters through video conference.

"The Arbitration Committee chaired by Justice J R Midha, in its meeting held on May 30, decided to implement it with effect from June 8, till further orders," the guidance note said.


According to the note, the Arbitration Committee has decided that for filing fresh cases, parties can send to DIAC the petition/application/documents through e-mail at HYPERLINK "mailto:diac-dhc@nic.in"diac-dhc@nic.in or HYPERLINK "mailto:delhiarbitrationcentre@gmail.com"delhiarbitrationcentre@gmail.com till e-filing facility is made operational.

In on-going matters, documents and applications have to be sent to the arbitrator by e-mail with a copy to the opposite party and DIAC, the committee has said and added that availing the physical infrastructure of DIAC is not compulsory in the arbitrations.