Explains why an arbitral tribunal in India cannot directly compel a non-party to produce documents or testify, and must instead seek court assistance under Section 27 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. Tracks a post-2021 trend of High Court decisions confining the court's role largely to execution rather than re-adjudication.
Key Takeaways:
- Section 27 requires court assistance to compel non-party evidence; tribunals can't do it directly.
- Courts now expect tribunals to record their own relevance finding before granting Section 27 approval.
- The Group of Companies doctrine (Cox and Kings) is about consent, not compelling third-party evidence.
- No mechanism yet exists to compel foreign-resident witnesses — a live legislative gap.
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