What is Section 26 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act

Role of Expert in Arbitration

CHAPTER V

Conduct Of Arbitral Proceedings

Section 26. Expert appointment by arbitral tribunal - (1) Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the arbitral tribunal may

(a) appoint one or more experts to report to it on specific issues to be determined by the arbitral tribunal, and

(b) require a party to give the expert any relevant information or to produce, or to provide access to, any relevant documents, goods or other property for his inspection.

(2) Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, if a party so requests or if the arbitral tribunal considers it necessary, the expert shall, after delivery of his written or oral report, participate in an oral hearing where the parties have the opportunity to put questions to him and to present expert witnesses in order to testify on the points at issue.

(3) Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the expert shall, on the request of a party, make available to that party for examination all documents, goods or other property in the possession of the expert with which he was provided in order to prepare his report.

Scope of Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996

Cases where there is no prior agreement between the parties on the aspect of usage of services of Expert, the arbitral tribunal may:

1. Appoint one or more experts
2. Ask such experts to determine specific issues
3. Deliberate upon such issues
4. Ask the expert to participate in the oral arbitral proceedings
5. Permit the parties to put questions to such experts who had made the report
6. Permit the parties to present their own expert witnesses to have viewpoints over the issue.

More often than not the Expert advice is given in the form of a written Expert Report which is produced prior to the hearing of an Arbitration.

In the case of Ramesh Chandra Agrawal vs. Regency Hospital Ltd. 2009 Latest Caselaw 758 SC, the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that, in Arbitration Disputes where scientific issues involved is highly specialized, expert’s role assumes great importance. Expert is supposed to analyse the matter critically and place all materials with necessary scientific criteria for resting accuracy of conclusions together with reasonsbefore court, so that court may form its own independent judgement.