What is Arbitration Council of India? What are the duties and functions of the Arbitration Council ?

Part IA of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (the Act) as inserted by the Amendment Act, 2019 deals with Arbitration Council of India. Section 43B empowers the Central Government to establish the Arbitration Council of India to perform the duties and discharge the functions under the Act. The Council shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power, subject to the provisions of this Act, to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to enter into contract, and shall, by the said name, sue and be sued. The head office of the Council shall be at Delhi. The Council may, with the prior approval of the Central Government, establish offices at other places in India. Section 43D provides that it shall be the duty of the Council to take all such measures as may be necessary to promote and encourage arbitration, mediation, conciliation or other alternative dispute resolution mechanism and for that purpose to frame policy and guidelines for the establishment, operation and maintenance of uniform professional standards in respect of all matters relating to arbitration. For the purposes of performing the duties and discharging the functions under this Act, the Council may- frame policies governing the grading of arbitral institutions; recognise professional institutes providing accreditation of arbitrators; review the grading of arbitral institutions and arbitrators; hold training, workshops and courses in the area of arbitration in collaboration of law firms, law universities and arbitral institutes; frame, review and update norms to ensure satisfactory level of arbitration and conciliation; act as a forum for exchange of views and techniques to be adopted for creating a platform to make India a robust centre for domestic and international arbitration and conciliation; make recommendations to the Central Government on various measures to be adopted to make provision for easy resolution of commercial disputes; promote institutional arbitration by strengthening arbitral institutions; conduct examination and training on various subjects relating to arbitration and conciliation and award certificates thereof; establish and maintain depository of arbitral awards made in India; make recommendations regarding personnel, training and infrastructure of arbitral institutions; and Such other functions as may be decided by the Central Government.