Goa can become arbitration centre: Moily

 
He said the country was losing heavily because it lacked the infrastructure for such a centre with Singapore and Hong Kong now seen as the preferred destinations for international arbitration.

“We can change all that by making Goa, already an international tourist destination, into a centre for international arbitration,” Moily said, adding that the Centre was considering amending the Arbitration and Mediation Act that would facilitate the process.

Addressing the media after the west zone meeting of judges and state government representatives on the implementation of the 13th Finance Commission Recommendations Moily said the new judicial reforms had seen over 200,000 undertrials released between January 26 and now.

“Our target figure was the release of 300,000 who are in for petty crime. I’m glad to say we have already crossed two-thirds of that mark, bringing relief to nearly 10 lakh family members.”

Moily said apart from the national litigation policy which is on the anvil, states had been asked to prepare their state litigation policy within a year which would help improve the pace of the justice delivery system. 

A roadmap for quick disposal of cases was being prepared.“We want to bring down the time for disposal of cases from five to three years,” Moily said.

On the decision to set up commercial courts in the high courts, Moily said India needed to follow the example of the UK where commercial courts managed to dispose of cases within three months and the maximum time for disposal was a mere six months.

Sunday’s meeting was the fifth of the series of meetings being held across the country and was attended by the chief justices of four states, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh among others.