Analysts have suggested amending the Arbitration Act 2001 to make it effective and compatible with global developments in arbitration.

“There is a demand (for it)…while the money loan court act also needs to be revised,” said Barrister Margub Kabir while presenting a keynote at a roundtable organised by Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre (BIAC) in the capital on Saturday.

Barrister Ajmalul Hossain co-authored the keynote at the event themed “Creating an Investment-friendly Access to Justice: Can Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) be an Effective Remedy in Commercial Disputes?”.

Kabir observed that although mediation has been made mandatory in both the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and the Money Loan Court Act 2003, it had not attained the projected success in settlement of disputes.

“For example, the mandatory provision for mediation comes into play after a party institutes litigation and the defending party appears in the litigation and files written statement,” he said.

Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam stressed amending the laws related to arbitration and adding BIAC as a third-party institution or platform to deal with ADR.

He requested the Law and Justice Division to think over the issue very seriously so that some reforms in this regard can surface by June.

The experts said the Bangladesh Arbitration Act 2001 should be amended to limit court intervention and to improve enforcement of arbitral awards to improve the worsening situation.

The experts also called for amending the Money Loan Court Act 2003 to encourage pre litigation mediation that will allow parties to try mediation even before filing a case with the law court.

BIAC Chairman Mahbubur Rahman said the huge backlog of cases not only costs time and money but also affects foreign direct investment in the country.

“This is also interlinked with the rising amount of non-performing loans of the banks,” he said.