Emergency Arbitration: Status and Applicability in the Indian Context

In legal disputes, delays in obtaining a resolution may cause the party seeking a remedy to be in a precarious or potentially irreparable position. This issue is particularly evident in arbitration, where parties are given the autonomy to dictate their own procedural framework. Emergency arbitration has become a crucial remedy in addressing these concerns by allowing parties to apply for urgent interim relief from an emergency arbitrator prior to a formal arbitration tribunal being constituted. However, the enforcement of such emergency arbitrators’ decisions is still a contested issue, especially in jurisdictions that do not provide for its recognition and adoption, due to a lack of national legislation provision, such as India. This article aims to focus on the status emergency arbitration as a mechanism for dispute resolution particularly with regards to foreign-seated arbitration and its enforcement under the Indian law.