Quickly appoint Asian arbitration centre director, lawyers tell Putrajaya

KUALA lumpur: A lawyer has urged the government to quickly appoint the director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) here, a position that has been left vacant for six months.

R Kengadharan said dispute resolution by way of arbitration and adjudication had come to a halt as “nothing moves without the existence of the director”.

He said the appointment of arbitrators could only be done by the director should there be a dispute on appointments.

“When disputing parties could not agree on the appointments, the director could decide. But with his absence, nothing moves forward,” he told FMT.

The lawyer also said only the director could confirm the provisional deposit for arbitration under Rule 14 of AIAC.

R Kengadharan.

Dispute resolution without court involvement is supposed to be a quick process and the absence of the director is not beneficial to disputing parties.

Usually, there will be an arbitration clause in a contract and disputing parties could only go to court if they mutually agree to waive it.

Adjudication is resorted to when parties to a building contract have dispute over under, late or non-payment.

“Contractors and subcontractors can rely on adjudication under the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012,” he said.

Kengadharan said this following concern raised by lawyers involved in assisting their clients in arbitration and adjudication.

Meanwhile, lawyer Abdul Shukor Ahmad said the delay in appointing a director would incur cost and money when parties went through the legal process for the court to appoint arbitrators.

Abdul Shukor Ahmad.

He said the foreign and law ministers must consult the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO), the parent body of AIAC, before the director was appointed.

“There is an agreement between Malaysia and AALCO when the AIAC was established here and this should be honoured,” he said.

The director’s position has been vacant following the death of lawyer Vinayak Pradhan on March 8.

Pradhan was appointed as acting director on Nov 21, 2018 following the resignation of Sundra Rajoo, who had led the organisation for nine years.

However, AALCO had rejected Putrajaya’s appointment of Pradhan as director, saying it was not consulted about the appointment on May 8, 2019.

AALCO said in a letter to then de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong that under the 2013 Host Country Agreement, it must be consulted before the appointment is made. - FMT