DIAC Emergency Arbitrator: Urgent Relief Before the Tribunal Is Formed

The short version

An emergency arbitrator is a single arbitrator the Delhi International Arbitration Centre appoints for one narrow job. He decides an urgent application for interim relief that can't wait for the regular tribunal. That's all he does. The power sits in Rule 14 of the DIAC (Arbitration Proceedings) Rules, 2023, and it's available when the parties have agreed to arbitrate under DIAC.

Everything moves fast. The Chairperson or a Sub-Committee of DIAC appoints him within two days of the request, not counting non-business days. Within two business days he sets a schedule. He hears both sides and has to finish within fourteen days of appointment. His order then runs for ninety days from the date it's made, unless the arbitral tribunal modifies, replaces or vacates it. Only the tribunal can stretch it past ninety days.

Does the order actually bind anyone? For an arbitration seated in India, yes. In Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC v. Future Retail Ltd (2021), the Supreme Court treated an emergency arbitrator's order as an order under Section 17(1) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, enforceable under Section 17(2) as if a court had passed it. It has teeth. But only if you get it the right way.

Where the power comes from

When we'd advise going this way

Three things need to line up. Your dispute has to be covered by an agreement to arbitrate under DIAC. The harm has to be coming before a tribunal can realistically be formed, and in a DIAC matter that's often several weeks after the Request. And you must be able to warn the other side without wrecking the point of the exercise, because Rule 14.1 requires a copy to go to them at the same time and Rule 14.8 requires a hearing.

In practice the files look like this. A buyer is about to resell goods when title is in dispute. A joint venture partner is about to sell shares in breach of a lock-in. A contractor has been terminated and the employer wants to seize its equipment at site. A franchisor's ex-franchisee is still trading under the old name, or a software client keeps using source code after the contract has ended. What you ask for in each case is narrow and protective. Keep the goods where they are. Stop the transfer. Stop the use. Secure a sum.

There's a quieter advantage too. Some clients would rather not see their dispute on a public cause list. DIAC proceedings are confidential under Rule 35, whereas a Section 9 petition is listed and argued in open court.

When we'd steer you elsewhere

If you need an order without notice, this is the wrong place. Say telling the other side would make them shift the money or the goods that same evening. Then a Section 9 petition in court, where an ex parte ad interim order is possible, is safer. An emergency arbitrator can't pass an order behind a party's back.

It's also weak against outsiders. The bank holding a guarantee, the warehouse keeper holding the stock, the group company that owns the assets: none of them signed the arbitration clause. An emergency order binds the parties. A court order under Section 9 can reach further, although courts are careful with third parties as well.

A plain money claim with no real risk doesn't fit either. If the debtor is a running company with assets and you just want your money, an emergency arbitrator won't order the claim paid as interim relief. He can secure the amount in dispute, but only if you show the respondent is trying to defeat a future award. It's a high bar. That's the same test courts use for attachment before judgment under Order XXXVIII Rule 5 of the CPC, which we explain on our page on attaching assets before judgment.

Once the regular tribunal exists, you don't need one at all. Go to the tribunal under Section 17.

Applying for a DIAC emergency arbitrator, step by step

1. Check the clause, then the urgency

   Make sure the dispute falls under a DIAC arbitration clause or a DIAC reference. Then write down, with dates, exactly what the other side is about to do and why money later won't fix it. If you can't point to a specific threatened act, think again before applying.

2. Get the arbitration moving

   Serve a notice invoking arbitration under Section 21 and, ideally, file the Request under Rule 4 the same day. Rule 14 talks about measures that can't wait for the tribunal, so the main arbitration should already be in motion. A vague plan to start it someday won't do.

3. Draft the application

   Spell out the relief in precise words, the facts, the specific reasons for urgency and why you're entitled to it: a prima facie case, the balance of convenience and irreparable harm. Attach the contract, the important letters and emails, and the evidence of the threatened act. Where it fits, offer an undertaking to compensate the respondent if the order later turns out to be unjustified.

4. Serve the other side at once

   Email and courier the full application to the opposite party, at the address in the contract and at its registered office. Rule 14.2(b) wants proof of service filed with the application. Keep every delivery report.

5. Pay the fee and the deposit

   The application fee and the emergency arbitrator's fee deposit go in with the application, as the DIAC fee rules prescribe. Call the DIAC office before filing and check the current schedule and any practice direction on deposits.

6. Appointment, and any objection

   DIAC appoints within two days, excluding non-business days, and circulates the arbitrator's Section 12 disclosure. Each side then has one business day from that communication to challenge him. Read the disclosure the minute it lands.

7. The hearing comes quickly

   Within two business days he fixes dates for replies, documents and a hearing. The hearing may be short and may be on video. If you miss his schedule, Rule 14.7 lets the matter go ahead without you.

8. The order, and what comes after

   The order has to come within fourteen days of appointment. Once it's in hand, serve it, push for the regular tribunal to be formed, and mark the ninetieth day from the order in your diary. Don't wait. Apply to the tribunal well before that date if you need the order to continue.

Papers to put in with the application

• The arbitration agreement, or the court order sending the dispute to DIAC
• The contract, plus any amendments that touch the relief you want
• Your notice invoking arbitration and the DIAC Request, or a note saying when the Request is going in
• Proof of what they're threatening to do. Emails, board notices, sale ads, a guarantee invocation letter, photos, screenshots, whatever you've got
• A one-page chronology with dates, so the arbitrator sees at a glance why it can't wait
• The exact orders you want, drafted the way you'd like them to read
• Proof you've served the application on every opposite party
• Receipts for the application fee and the emergency arbitrator's fee deposit
• The board resolution or authority for whoever signs, and the vakalatnama or authorisation for your lawyer
• A certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 for important electronic records you might later rely on in court

What you have to prove

An emergency arbitrator uses broadly the same tests a judge uses for an interim injunction. First, a prima facie case. On the papers, you've got a serious claim with a fair chance of winning. Second, the balance of convenience, meaning you'd be hurt more by a refusal than the respondent would be hurt by an order. Third, irreparable injury. That's harm money can't properly repair later: a unique asset gone, goodwill destroyed, a transfer that's hard to reverse. Our page on interim injunctions in commercial suits shows how courts apply these tests.

Rule 14.2(a) adds a fourth test of its own. You need specific reasons why relief is needed on an emergency basis. Most weak applications die right here. 'The respondent may sell the goods' is a fear. 'The respondent advertised the goods for sale on 3 November and asked buyers to lift them by 10 November' is a reason.

Before an emergency application leaves our office, Advocate B.K. Singh asks one question. What exactly will have happened by the time an ordinary tribunal could hear this? If the honest answer is 'not much', we don't file. A refusal at the emergency stage sets an awkward tone for the rest of the case, and it's hard to shake off.

Timeline and costs, stage by stage

What the hearing is really like

It's brief. Typically the respondent gets a few days to reply, you get perhaps a day for a rejoinder, and then there's a hearing of an hour or two, usually on video. The arbitrator decides on the documents and the arguments. No witnesses. There isn't time.

Build your bundle on the assumption he'll read only the first ten pages. Front-load it with the chronology, the clause, the threatened act and the exact relief. Keep a draft order ready. And deal with the obvious objection before it's raised. If they'll say you delayed, explain your dates. If they'll say damages are enough, show why they aren't.

Respondents often offer an undertaking, say, not to sell the goods until the tribunal is formed. Take it seriously. A clear, time-bound undertaking recorded by the emergency arbitrator can be worth as much as an order. And it spares you a fight on the merits at the worst possible stage.

The ninety-day clock

Under the DIAC Rules an emergency order lives for ninety days from the day it's passed. Rule 14.13 says it stays operative for that period unless the arbitral tribunal modifies, substitutes or vacates it, and gives the tribunal the power to extend it beyond ninety days. The emergency arbitrator can't extend his own order.

The Delhi High Court read this strictly in Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Himalayan Flora and Aromas Pvt Ltd (decided 8 October 2025). There, an emergency arbitrator had extended the life of an earlier order. Hearing an appeal under Section 37, the court held that Rule 14.13 gives the power to extend only to the arbitral tribunal, that the two terms can't be swapped for each other within Rule 14, and set the extension aside. The party that had been protected was left to seek fresh relief, either from the tribunal under Section 17 or from the court under Section 9.

The lesson is plain. Count ninety days on the day you get the order and work backwards. Push to get the main tribunal formed. Pay deposits on time, send your list of arbitrators quickly, and if the respondent is stalling, ask DIAC to speed things up. The moment the tribunal is in place, apply for confirmation or extension, well before day ninety. Our guide on interim relief in a DIAC arbitration covers whether to go to the tribunal or the court for continuing relief.

If they ignore the order

You go to the court at the seat and enforce it under Section 17(2) of the Act. It's then enforced under the Code of Civil Procedure as though it were the court's own order. With an injunction, that means disobedience proceedings under Order XXXIX Rule 2A, which can lead to attachment of property and, in serious cases, civil detention. With an order securing a sum, it means attaching the respondent's assets.

Amazon v. Future Retail is the case you'll lean on. The Supreme Court held that the Arbitration Act doesn't prohibit emergency arbitration, that parties who pick institutional rules with an emergency arbitrator are bound by that choice, and that his order is an order under Section 17(1). And a party that took part in the emergency proceedings without objecting can't turn round later and call the order a nullity.

Enforcement runs at a court's pace, not DIAC's. Be patient. For commercial disputes seated in New Delhi, Section 10 of the Commercial Courts Act sends it to the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court where the value is above Rs 2 crore, and to the district Commercial Court below that. Check the current limit before you file. Attaching assets works much the way it does in executing a decree.

Getting an emergency order changed or set aside

If the order has gone against you, there are three routes. Once the regular tribunal is formed, you can ask it under Rule 14.14 to vary, discharge or revoke the order. Rule 14.12 makes clear the order doesn't bind the tribunal on the merits. You can also appeal to the court under Section 37(2)(b) of the Act, which allows an appeal against a tribunal's order granting or refusing an interim measure under Section 17. Himalayan Flora was decided on exactly that kind of appeal. Or, if the facts have moved on, you can ask the tribunal to modify it.

Objecting to the emergency arbitrator himself is a different matter, and it has to be quick. Rule 14.5 gives you one business day from DIAC's communication of the appointment and disclosure. Doubts about his independence or impartiality are tested against Section 12 and the Fifth and Seventh Schedules of the Act. Our guide on challenging a DIAC arbitrator explains the grounds for regular appointments. In emergency proceedings you have far less time to act.

Don't simply ignore an order you think is wrong. Comply with it, appeal it, or go to the tribunal. Disobedience turns a commercial fight into something close to contempt, and it colours how the main arbitration goes.

DIAC emergency arbitrator, or Section 9 in court?

Both get you interim relief before the tribunal is formed. Which one fits depends on your facts. Section 9 of the Act lets you go to the court at the seat for interim measures before, during or after the arbitration, right up to enforcement of the award. If the court grants relief before the arbitration begins, the arbitration has to start within ninety days of the order or any further time the court allows.

We'd pick the court when you need an ex parte order, when the relief has to bind a bank or some other third party, or when the respondent will probably argue the clause doesn't cover the dispute. We'd pick DIAC when notice is fine, when confidentiality matters, when the relief is about the parties' own conduct, and when the High Court's urgent list is packed that week. Section 9(3) also makes the court reluctant to hear a Section 9 application once the regular tribunal exists, unless the Section 17 remedy wouldn't work.

Don't run both at once for the same relief. A tribunal and a court looking at identical prayers side by side invites a forum-shopping objection, and it's money down the drain. Choose one. If it fails on a point only the other forum can deal with, say so plainly when you move the other. For Section 9 petitions in arbitrations that aren't at DIAC, there's general help on arbitrationlawyer.in.

What it costs

The applicant pays an application fee and deposits the emergency arbitrator's fee with the application, as prescribed under the DIAC (Administrative Costs and Arbitrators' Fees) Rules, 2018. DIAC's published schedule works off the sum in dispute, so check the current figures and any practice direction before filing. DIAC Practice Direction 01/2024 requires a party asking a tribunal for interim relief to declare a tentative claim value and deposit a provisional sum towards fees. Ask the DIAC office how that applies to your emergency application.

Rule 14.10 has a neat built-in nudge. If the emergency arbitrator doesn't finish within fourteen days of appointment, he isn't entitled to any fee. What each side spent on the emergency round, lawyers included, can be decided later by the regular tribunal. Under Section 31A of the Act, costs generally follow the event. File an unnecessary application and you may end up paying for it.

Frankly, the real cost is the preparation. A lot of work gets squeezed into a few days: chronology, documents, draft order, written submissions. We discuss our professional fees for this at the first meeting and put them in writing. For a rough comparison of DIAC's fee heads, see our page on what a DIAC arbitration costs.

If the application is against you

The application reaches you when it reaches DIAC. Read it that day. Not tomorrow. Within one business day of DIAC communicating the appointment and disclosure, decide whether to object to the emergency arbitrator. Then write a short reply. Cover jurisdiction (is the dispute even within the DIAC clause?), urgency (did the applicant sit on it, and is the threatened act real?) and the balance of convenience.

Think about offering an undertaking. If you never meant to sell the goods or transfer the shares, a short undertaking until the tribunal is formed costs you nothing. It also knocks the bottom out of the application. But if the relief would shut your business down, put figures on that harm and ask that the applicant give security as a condition of any order.

Keep the main case in mind. Whatever you say in a rushed emergency reply can be quoted back at you later. Say only what you're sure of. Leave the rest for the Statement of Defence.

Mistakes we keep seeing

• Waiting too long. Knowing about the threat for two months and then pleading urgency is a hard sell. File as soon as the threat is concrete.
• Asking for the whole case. He won't order the full claim paid or decide who's right on the contract. Ask only for protection.
• Prayers nobody can enforce. 'Restrain the respondent from acting against the claimant' means nothing in execution. Name the goods, the account, the shares, the brand and the act you want stopped.
• No proof of service on file. Rule 14.2(b) needs it with the application, and without it the appointment can get held up.
• Losing track of the ninety days. Unless the tribunal acts, the order dies on day ninety. The emergency arbitrator can't extend it, as the Delhi High Court held in 2025.
• Dragging your feet on the main tribunal. Deposits unpaid, arbitrator lists sent late, and meanwhile the emergency order quietly runs out.
• Section 9 and Rule 14 side by side. Two forums for the same relief means an objection and a bigger bill.

How this looks in different businesses

Suppliers and traders usually want goods preserved or a sum secured because the buyer is winding down. They do well when they can show stock moving, sale notices going out or receivables being diverted. Non-payment alone isn't enough. Service companies and IT vendors more often want their software, data or confidential information protected after a contract ends, and there the screenshots, access logs and termination letter carry the case.

Lenders and investors with DIAC clauses in share subscription, shareholders' or loan agreements use emergency relief to stop share transfers, board changes or disposal of pledged assets. The relief has to be framed carefully so it doesn't stray into what belongs to the NCLT, like oppression and mismanagement. When a co-founder walks out of a startup, the remaining founders sometimes need an order preserving the company's accounts and IP. Speed matters more than polish there.

Construction contractors facing invocation of a performance bank guarantee should go in with open eyes. Courts and tribunals rarely restrain encashment of an unconditional guarantee, except for egregious fraud or special equities such as irretrievable injustice. An emergency order against the employer, rather than the bank, is sometimes possible, but the whole application must be built around those narrow exceptions. And large groups should check that the company whose conduct needs restraining actually signed the arbitration agreement. Often it didn't.

What to do this week

Write down the threatened act, the date it's likely to happen and what evidence you have. Find the DIAC clause and make sure the dispute falls within it. If warning the other side would itself trigger the harm, talk to your lawyer about a Section 9 petition in court instead. If notice is acceptable, get the emergency application, the Request and the deposits ready together so the regular tribunal follows quickly. Our guide on starting an arbitration at DIAC walks through the Request. Our DIAC arbitration lawyer page explains how we act for claimants and respondents at the Centre.

If you'd like the papers and the urgency looked at before you file, send them to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page.