The New York Convention on foreign arbitration, by Article V (1) (e) lays down a procedural norm that an arbitral award, duly rendered, attains finality if, and only if, a domestic court endorses it. This procedural norm was endorsed by the Supreme Court of India in two leading cases. The ratio that the Supreme Court employed in the above-mentioned cases is in accordance with Section 17 of the Indian Arbitration Act, 1940. Such an endorsement by a local court of the forum that was required under Article V (1) (e) of the New York Convention was done away with by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 under Section 35. The forum for the conduct of arbitration in the country of the applicable law also is not indispensable; and it is for the court exercising jurisdiction to determine, on the basis of balance of convenience, the place for the conduct of arbitration, taking into consideration the local status of the parties, such as that one of the parties cannot afford to go to the country of the applicable law, coupled with the availability of evidence, oral and documentary, at the place where the court is exercising jurisdiction.
Admissibility And Perplexity Of Digital Evidence: An Overview