India to be made a global hub for arbitration: Veerappa Moily

Ahmedabad: India can become a destination for international arbitration, the Union law minister, Veerappa Moily, said in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

"As of now, our corporates have to go to London, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore for arbitration cases. The central government wants to make our country an arbitration hub which is as good as any other in the world. This will give our lawyers many opportunities," he said.

Moily was in Ahmedabad to launch the 'Mission mode programme for reduction of pendency in courts (Gujarat state)', which aims to cut the number of pending cases in the state's subordinate courts by up to 40 per cent in six months.

Under the programme, subordinate courts across the country are expected to dispose of one crore pending cases by the end of this year.

Talking to reporters, Moily said the Union government had taken several initiatives, one of which was the mission mode programme. "The aim of the mission is disposal of 40 per cent of pending cases by 31 December 2011, starting from July 1," he said.

After launching the programme in Ahmedabad, the minister said the Union law ministry had set the target of reducing pendency of cases by up to 40 per cent in the subordinate courts of all the states by the end of this year.