Sai Ramani Garimella

South Asian University · Faculty of Legal Studies

Purpose International investment law governs matters related to transnational investments. The extensive reach of transnational corporations (TNCs) has granted them substantial economic, political and social influence, often intertwining them with public interest issues and implications in human rights violations. This paper aims to explore the pro...

Third-party funding (TPF) has become a way of doing business, as a funding mechanism for primarily indigent litigants or litigants aiming to preserve their business capital while pursuing a dispute and as an investment mechanism for law firms with a diverse case portfolio as well. International institutions deliberating on dispute resolution mechan...

Governance is unarguably the largest human enterprise. It involves interactions with diverse stakeholders, including private contractors, for procurements and delivery of public goods and services to the population through the invitation of tenders and bids for auction. Procurement can often lead to disputes given the diverse purposes of such contr...

How do Asian courts ascertain, interpret and apply a foreign law as the law governing the merits of the case? What should judges do if parties do not raise or disagree on the content of foreign law? This thematic volume in the Studies in Private International Law – Asia series analyses the treatment of foreign law before judicial authorities, that...

This thematic volume in the series Studies in Private International Law – Asia outlines the general choice of law and recognition rules relating to family matters of 15 Asian jurisdictions: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indi...

Governance of data, essentially a free-flowing product of the industrial (technology-driven) revolution 4.0, has been the subject of much discussion and policy action among States. Such governance, however, has presented questions turning the traditional understanding of the right to regulate, which is based on the geographic location, heads down,...

This article compares the recently enacted Chinese Personal Information Protection Law and the Indian Personal Data Protection Bill. It suggests that multinational companies should familiarise themselves with the requirements imposed under the two laws and seek compliance to the various regulatory environments.

Third-Party Funding of arbitral claims has witnessed a phenomenal interest in recent times, especially because of the increase in volume and variety of participants and stakeholders, presenting reasons for cautious excitement and a few concerns about regulation of such diversity. Ensuring increased access to justice for claimants and possibly, to r...

This chapter discusses the exceptions to the enforcement of arbitral awards as noted in the UNCITRAL Model Law.

This chapter analyses and explain the importance of the public policy exception as it is often resorted to and only in exceptional circumstances an argued exception is successful.

This chapter seeks to explain the importance of the enforcement of Arbitral Awards in South Asia with global trade in the South Asia region being at the threshold of a new era. Global trade has been made all the more significant by China’s push towards the development of the new Silk Road. International commercial arbitration has been regarded as t...

The concluding chapter draws attention to the primordial issues addressed in the book in relation to the enforcement and recognition of foreign arbitral awards.

Definitional clarity on the boundaries of the public policy exception in the context of international arbitration has been limited, and the exception therefore continues to be explained in a varied manner by national courts as they rely on domestic policies.

This chapter is premised upon the observation that arbitral awards are binding and enforceable. However, certain exceptions are noted in the Model Law and the New York Convention.

A jurisdiction clause or agreement (sometimes called a forum selection clause or a choice of court agreement) is a commonplace feature in international commercial contracts and dealings. One of the reasons why parties agree to such a clause is to eliminate or contain a “venue risk”—a risk that a claimant may be prevented from suing in its favorable...

The Supreme Court of India (“SCI”) in the matter of Hindustan Construction Company Limited and Ors. vs. Union of India(UOI) and Ors. was presented with an opportunity to adjudicate upon a petition challenging the constitutional validity of Section 87 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996(“Act, 1996”) inserted by the Arbitration and Concilia...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused difficulties and created disruptions to human lives worldwide, including commercial lives. It is not surprising that parties to international sales transactions agreed upon according to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) will try to invoke the exception in Article 7...

A host State, depending upon the situation and circumstances, may approach the national court seeking anti-arbitration injunction either before the establishment of the arbitral tribunal or once the arbitration tribunal enters into reference. The reasons, often, cited for seeking an anti-arbitration injunction can vary from admissibility issue to j...

Maritime commerce operates within a maze of complex legal systems requiring documentation that is sourced to the specifications of international and domestic law regimes as well. While the stated purposes of the bills of lading and the charterparty agreements have been delineated within the international law and the domestic law respectively, with...

The book presents arguments derived from primary sources related to international arbitration in South Asian jurisdictions, a list of the same is made available therein. The book is a research statement on the contemporary concerns within international commercial arbitration, especially related to enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Importantly...

This chapter elucidates the objectives and scope of the 1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention (hereinafter Convention) followed with analysis of the challenges in its implementation. The introduction identifies the normative regimes impacting inter-country adoption. The first section discusses the Convention and also attempts to highlight the need...

The chapter on India is part of the collection Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters in Asia. It discusses the law and practice in the context of foreign judgments including interim orders and injunctory relief. This collection offers a study of the regimes for the recognition and enforcement of foreign commercial...

International Human Rights Law, with its linear approach, addressed discrimination through the prohibition of its practice based on certain identified and mutually exclusive criteria. Such an approach resulted in masking the intersectional discrimination occurring from subjecting rights under one identified criteria to another, either within the sa...

The liberal globalised order has brought increased focus on the regulation of international commerce, and especially dispute resolution. Enforcement of contracts has been a concern largely owing to the insufficiencies of the legal sys-ems, especially relating to the institutional structure, and it holds true for India as well. The commercial courts...

The UNCITRAL Working Group III is analysing possible reforms of the arbitral rules to address the risks associated with the increased prevalence of third-party funded (TPF) investment arbitration claims. TPF proponents claim that it provides access to justice for impecunious parties. Given the structural deficits in international investment law and...

On the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the CISG, this edited collection provides value-added content for students and practitioners alike considering CISG and its intersection with public domestic and international law. Unique and jurisdictionally relevant thought-leadership content – presents national perspectives. Provides fresh critiq...

As the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958) (NY Convention) celebrates its 60th anniversary, it is pertinent to establish its relevance to the enforceability of decisions emanating from improvised variants such as emergency arbitration. By investigating the compatibility of the NY Convention with...

The Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements entered into force in 28 Contracting States, including Mexico and all the Member States of the European Union, except Denmark, on 1 October 2015. Singapore ratified the Convention on 2 June 2016 and the Convention applies between Singapore and the other Contracting States from 1 October 2...

It has been more than three decades since the international community attempted to address international parental child abduction through the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention. Despite this, the problem persists and, indeed, has been exacerbated by an increasing number of removals to countries that have not yet acceded to the Convention. One such non...

Confidentiality, a logical extension of the principle of party autonomy and the private nature of the dispute settlement mechanism, is a fundamental principle of international arbitration. Successive UNCITRAL WG II documents have averred to confidentiality as an inherent requirement for commercial arbitration (A/CN.9/WG.II/WP.186). However, there i...

Increased trans-national movement of people, and consequentially, families, has resulted in complex conflict of laws questions in family-related disputes, especially concerning the custody of children. Such questions often arise from differential criteria within the law in different jurisdictions, and not unusually, the application of differential...

The seat of the arbitration denotes the legal identity of the arbitral proceedings, apart from determining the curial law that would govern the arbitral proceedings. The territoriality principle principle has been used to explain the role of the courts at the seat of arbitration. Seat-centric arbitration, therefore, has come to be a determinant fac...

International arbitration, characterized by increasing regulatory activity and escalating institutionalization of the mechanism across jurisdictions, presents an interesting yet complex structure. Flexibility within the process, primacy to the party autonomy principle and enforcement across jurisdictions are the factors that explain its increased u...

This book shows how, with the increasing interaction between jurisdictions spearheaded by globalization, it is gradually becoming impossible to confine transactions to a single jurisdiction. Presented in the form of a compendium of essays by eminent academics and practitioners in the field, it provides a detailed overview of private, international...

This book shows how, with the increasing interaction between jurisdictions spearheaded by globalization, it is gradually becoming impossible to confine transactions to a single jurisdiction. Presented in the form of a compendium of essays by eminent academics and practitioners in the field, it provides a detailed overview of private, international...

This presentation explores the position of the South Asian nations with regard to their presence and their participation at the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). It attempts to encapsulate the position in the jurisdictions of the region, especially in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Little success in the implementation of the international environmental law regime could, amongst others, be attributed to the absence of clarity in the dispute settlement mechanism and also a clearly identified institution for such dispute settlement. While the law has evolved in addressing the variety of concerns presented by often immediate and...

Multi-tiered dispute resolution clauses have come to be recognised as a commonly accepted method of dispute resolution clauses in commercial contracts - they often find place in construction contracts. The article discusses the conceptual nature of the multi- tiered clauses and explains the benefits of these clauses, as well as a few concerns relat...

Discusses a few of the harmonised legal platforms for doing business in the area of international commercial contracts.

Contemporary legal theory has witnessed a movement against formalism in law. Classified as a post-realist movement, Critical Legal studies, through its self-developed critique entitled the indeterminacy thesis, stated that law deliberately ensures indeterminacy in its content and interprtation, thereby sustaining the social structures – it does so...

An introduction to the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreement, 2005, and the Hague Principles of Choice of Law, 2015

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG, 1980) was adopted with the objective of providing a uniform and advanced system for the commercial transactions related to international sale of goods. The purpose of CISG is to reduce the barriers in the course of international buying and selling of goods. One of...

revisiting confidentiality feature in international arbitration

International arbitration has witnessed a phenomenal increase in volume and variety of participants and stakeholders, presenting reasons for cautious excitement and a few concerns about regulation of such diversity. One of the recent innovations is the presence of third-party funding of the arbitral process, a feature that gives rise to a perceptio...

The BALCO rationale – a shift to the Territoriality Principle in International Commercial Arbitration

: The seat of the arbitration denotes the legal identity of the arbitral proceedings, apart from determining the curial law that would govern the arbitral proceedings. The territoriality principle has been firmly placed into the UNCITRAL Model Law. Also known as the Jurisdiction theory, this principle has been used to explain the role of the courts...

International efforts addressing graft issues have largely been centred on the human rights discourse. The UN Convention against Corruption has mandated member states to establish a legal regime founded upon addressing corruption as a violation of human rights. South Asian countries have largely founded their anti-corruption activities on penalisat...

Caste, India’s version of race marginalization has been an acknowledged discriminatory practice. Societal-regeneration attempts in subaltern India have addressed entitlements through affirmative action programmes. Economic empowerment notwithstanding, caste-founded hegemony and violence continue to appear on the public space of community relati...

The seat of the arbitration denotes the legal identity of the arbitral proceedings, apart from determining the curial law that would govern the arbitral proceedings. The territoriality principle has been firmly placed into the UNCITRAL Model Law. Also known as the Jurisdiction theory, this principle has been used to explain the role of the courts a...

With its inherent benefits like party autonomy, neutrality, expediency, expertise, confidentiality and finality arbitration is by far the most promising method of dispute settlement especially in transnational commercial activities. However, privatization of justice has the intrinsic weakness of removal from the legal system - jurisdictional as wel...

Post-Nuremberg there has been an interesting variety of criminal justice mechanisms to ensure avoidance of impunity for war crimes. Apart from the ICTY, ICTR mechanisms and the ICC, States have also exercised sovereign territorial right to try war crimes. State interests and international concern aiming at ensuring avoidance of impunity can be effe...

Since the Nuremberg courts, diverse criminal justice mechanisms have found place in international criminal law, often on compulsions from States. Successfully ensuring criminalization of the Kosovo and Rwanda horrors, international criminal law now has an institutional process, the ICC. States have also exercised sovereign territorial right to try...

The judgment of the apex court in Rattiram vs. Union of India puts to rest the dichotomy that existed in the judicial interpretation of the procedure for committal of the case to the special courts. The court decided with finality the import of the POA Act with regard to the status of the special courts/sessions courts functioning as special courts...

Public discourse in India over the last half a century in the area of social and economic diversity, was largely dominated by affirmative action policies like protective discrimination and sectoral empowerment. Not much effort was made towards prevention and eradication of the violence against the marginalized population grouped under Scheduled cas...