Call or WhatsApp +91 96259 61599 advocates@legals365.com Commercial courts in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram
Commercial Court Lawyer, B.K. Singh & Associates, Delhi NCR

Fast Track Arbitration at DIAC: An Award in Six Months on Written Papers

How DIAC fast track arbitration works under Section 29B: who can opt in, the written-only procedure, the six-month award deadline, costs and common mistakes.

By Advocate B.K. SinghDIAC ArbitrationUpdated 1 November 202623 min read

In short. DIAC fast track arbitration is arbitration on paper. Under Section 29B of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, a sole arbitrator at the Delhi International Arbitration Centre reads the pleadings, documents and written submissions and decides. No witness box. The award has to come within six months of the arbitrator entering upon the reference. It works for money disputes the paperwork can prove. But both sides must agree in writing, before or when the arbitrator is appointed. If you want it, propose it in your notice and get their signature early.

सारांश (हिंदी में)DIAC फास्ट ट्रैक आर्बिट्रेशन, आर्बिट्रेशन एक्ट, 1996 की धारा 29B वाला रास्ता है, जिसमें सब कुछ कागज़ पर चलता है। दिल्ली इंटरनेशनल आर्बिट्रेशन सेंटर का एक ही आर्बिट्रेटर क्लेम, जवाब, डॉक्यूमेंट और लिखित दलीलें पढ़कर फैसला करता है, गवाही और क्रॉस नहीं होती। नियुक्ति की सूचना मिलने के छह महीने के अंदर अवार्ड देना होता है। जिन केस में इनवॉइस, ईमेल और लेजर से ही पूरा पैसा साबित हो जाता है, उनके लिए यह बढ़िया है। लेकिन दोनों पार्टी को आर्बिट्रेटर लगने से पहले या उसी वक्त लिखकर हाँ कहनी होती है, और गवाही छोड़ने का अंडरटेकिंग भी देना होता है। यह चाहिए तो नोटिस में ही लिख दीजिए और सामने वाले से जल्दी साइन करवा लीजिए।

Is this your situation?

  • You're owed money under a written contract, and the invoices, purchase orders and emails already tell the whole story.
  • Your contract has a DIAC clause. Or the other side has said, on a call, that it's fine with DIAC.
  • Nobody really disputes what happened, so you can't see the point of cross-examining anyone.
  • You need the award in months. Paying for two years of hearing dates isn't an option.
  • Their manager has more or less told you they'll drag this out with adjournments.
  • A DIAC request has just been served on your company, and the claimant wants the fast track route.
  • You're drafting a new vendor contract and wondering whether to write fast track into the clause.

What DIAC fast track arbitration actually is

Think of it as arbitration on paper. The case is registered at the Delhi International Arbitration Centre, a single arbitrator goes through what each side has filed (pleadings, documents, written submissions), puts any questions in writing, and then writes the award. Nobody gives oral evidence. Nobody is cross-examined. Normally there isn't even a hearing. And the law caps the whole exercise at six months from the day the arbitrator enters upon the reference.

Parliament added Section 29B to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 in 2015, and DIAC's own version sits in Rules 12 and 13 of the DIAC (Arbitration Proceedings) Rules, 2023. The Delhi High Court set the Centre up. It opened in 2009, and you'll find it inside the High Court campus on Sher Shah Road, New Delhi. Its job is administration: filings, the arbitrator panel, fees, the record.

It isn't automatic. Some foreign institutions apply an expedited track by default to smaller claims. DIAC doesn't. Both sides have to say yes in writing, and they have to do it before the arbitrator is appointed or at the moment of appointment. Miss that window and Section 29B is closed. Most of what follows comes back to that one rule.

The law behind fast track arbitration at DIAC

Section 29B, Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996

Section 29B lets the parties agree in writing, at any point up to and including the tribunal's appointment, that their dispute will go by fast track. They pick a sole arbitrator themselves. That arbitrator decides on what's been written and filed, with no oral hearing, and may call for further information or clarification. A hearing happens only if every party wants one or the arbitrator feels some issue can't be cleared up without it.

The deadline is six months from the date the tribunal enters upon the reference (Section 29B(4)). Miss it and Section 29B(5) sends you to sub-sections (3) to (9) of Section 29A. Fees? Under Section 29B(6), they're settled between the arbitrator and the parties, along with how they get paid.

Rule 12, DIAC (Arbitration Proceedings) Rules, 2023

Opting in is dealt with by Rule 12. Two things are needed from the parties before or at the time the tribunal is appointed: a written agreement, and a signed undertaking that they'll do without oral evidence. After that the claimant files its Request for Arbitration under Rule 4, and the respondent answers under Rule 5. No agreement on a panel arbitrator? The Chairperson or the Sub-Committee makes the appointment, within one week of the thirty-day reply period ending.

Rule 13, DIAC (Arbitration Proceedings) Rules, 2023

Rule 13 is the procedure, and it mirrors Section 29B almost line by line. The arbitrator decides on the papers. It can seek clarification. It hears oral submissions, for a fixed time, only when all parties ask or when it thinks it must. Beyond that it can run things however it likes, so long as the case finishes fast. Six months from entering upon the reference is the limit. After that, Section 29A(3) to (9) govern.

Section 29A(3) to (9), Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996

These are what catch you if six months turn out not to be enough. With everyone's consent, the time can be stretched by up to six months. Past that, you need the court, and you need sufficient cause. If the delay is the tribunal's doing, the court may knock up to five percent off the arbitrator's fees for every month of it. It can also replace the arbitrator. The Act asks it to decide an extension application within sixty days of notice going to the other side.

Who can pick fast track, and by when?

Anyone who's party to an arbitration agreement can choose it. Companies, partnership firms, LLPs, proprietors, government bodies. There's no floor and no ceiling on the amount in dispute. What counts is written consent and timing. The agreement has to be made at some stage before, or at the time of, the arbitrator's appointment. Once a full tribunal is in place under the regular procedure, Section 29B is gone. The parties can still agree on a short, document-based procedure using the general freedom Section 19 gives them. It just won't be Section 29B.

There are two usual ways in. One is a fast track clause in the contract itself, say a clause that sends disputes up to a certain value to a sole DIAC arbitrator under Section 29B. The other is a fresh written agreement once the dispute has started, usually signed when the claimant sends its notice or when DIAC asks the parties about the arbitrator. An exchange of emails can count as a written agreement. But at DIAC you'll also need the signed undertaking to give up oral evidence that Rule 12.2 asks for. Sign it as a separate document. Then nobody can argue about it later.

A contract that only says 'arbitration under DIAC rules' isn't consent to fast track. You'll need the other side to say yes. Plenty of respondents refuse, for the obvious reason that delay suits whoever owes the money. Some agree because the claim is small and they'd like their own costs kept down. Proposing it in the notice invoking arbitration costs you nothing. And a refusal tells you a fair bit about how they plan to defend.

Will fast track suit your dispute?

Fast track works when the documents can carry the case. Think of unpaid invoices backed by purchase orders and delivery challans. Rent or licence fee under a registered lease. An advance that should have come back under a signed agreement, milestone payments on a software contract with sign-off emails, a loan with a signed acknowledgment. An arbitrator can decide these by reading. The fewer facts genuinely in dispute, the better it fits.

It's a bad fit where the real question is who's telling the truth. If the other side says the goods were defective, or the work was never finished, or a director signed under pressure, someone usually has to be cross-examined. Same for claims built on oral promises, fraud allegations, damages that need an accountant or engineer to explain them, and construction disputes full of delay analysis and measurement fights. Squeeze a case like that into a paper procedure and you can end up with a thin award. Thin awards are harder to defend under challenge.

When a client asks Advocate B.K. Singh whether to push for fast track, the first thing he looks for is whether the other side ever disputed the debt in writing before the notice went out. A dispute that surfaces only after the legal notice is often weak. It can be answered on paper. A detailed quality complaint sent months earlier, with photographs, is different. You'll probably want witnesses then, and the regular procedure under Section 29A is safer.

How DIAC fast track arbitration runs, step by step

We've set these out in the order Rules 4, 5, 12 and 13 of the DIAC rules lay them down. Details can shift from tribunal to tribunal. The sequence almost never does.

  1. Get the agreement and undertaking signed

    Two signatures on one document is ideal: the agreement to go fast track, and the undertaking to dispense with oral evidence. A fast track clause in the contract helps, but get the undertaking signed even then. Timing is everything here. It has to be done before the arbitrator is appointed, or at the very latest when that happens.

  2. Serve the notice invoking arbitration

    Your arbitration commences under Section 21 when the other side receives this notice. For limitation, that's the date that counts. Say what you're claiming and how much, quote the clause, and propose fast track at DIAC in so many words. File away the courier slip. Save the email delivery report too.

  3. Lodge the Request at DIAC

    Under Rule 4 the Request goes in with the contract and clause, both parties' details, each claim with its amount, a few panel names for a sole arbitrator, proof you served the other side and proof you've paid DIAC's administrative charges. Rule 4.3 also allows you to file your complete statement of claim at the same time. In a fast track case that's not optional, in our view. Weeks saved.

  4. Thirty days for the respondent

    From the day it receives the Request, the respondent has thirty days to reply under Rule 5. If the two sides settle on a panel arbitrator, that person is appointed. If they can't, the Chairperson or Sub-Committee names a sole arbitrator within a week of those thirty days running out.

  5. The six-month clock starts

    Time begins when the arbitrator gets written notice of appointment. You'll receive the arbitrator's Section 12 disclosure, and DIAC will call for deposits under its fee rules. Pay promptly. A case with unpaid deposits simply sits.

  6. A procedural meeting, and a short timetable

    At the first meeting the arbitrator fixes when the defence, any counter claim, the replies and written submissions are due. Expect gaps of weeks, not months. Don't agree to a date you'll miss. And suggest a single combined document bundle, so the same invoices aren't filed four times.

  7. The written rounds

    Both sides file pleadings with every document they rely on. Written submissions on facts and law follow. Along the way the arbitrator may email questions or ask for a specific paper. Reply fast, and reply to the question asked.

  8. Maybe a hearing, then the award

    A short sitting for oral submissions happens only if every party asks, or if the arbitrator needs it to clear up particular issues. It can be at the Centre or on video. Then the award, within six months of the arbitrator entering upon the reference, unless time is extended under Section 29A.

Our note on starting an arbitration at DIAC has the general filing and service steps. Choosing fast track alters the speed and removes the hearing. The filing itself is unchanged.

Time and cost at each stage of a DIAC fast track case

StageUsual timeWhat it costs or needs
Written agreement and undertakingBefore or at the time the arbitrator is appointedNo fee. A signed fast track agreement and an undertaking giving up oral evidence.
Notice invoking arbitration (Section 21)Any time inside limitation. Send it firstJust courier and drafting. The arbitration starts when they receive it.
Request for Arbitration (Rule 4)After the notice, often filed with the statement of claimDIAC administrative charges, paid when you file. DIAC publishes a fee schedule tied to the sum in dispute. Check the current one.
Response to the Request (Rule 5)Thirty days from when the respondent receives itThe respondent's own costs. If it doesn't respond, the case goes ahead anyway.
Sole arbitrator appointed (Rule 12.5)By agreement, or within one week after the thirty-day reply periodDIAC fixes deposits under its fee rules, usually split 50:50 (Rule 33.1).
Pleadings and written submissionsWhatever the arbitrator fixes. Usually a few weeks per roundYour lawyers' drafting time. No ad valorem court fee, since this isn't a suit.
Oral submissions, if anyOnly if all parties ask or the arbitrator decides. Often a single sittingPart of the arbitrator's fee. At the Centre or by video conference (check current practice).
Award (Section 29B(4))Within six months of the arbitrator entering upon the referenceStamp duty on the award under state stamp law, where it applies. Check before execution.
Extension if the six months are missedUp to six more months by consent, then only through the courtCourt fee on the Section 29A application. The arbitrator's fee can be cut if the tribunal caused the delay.

Section 29B(6) leaves fees to agreement between the arbitrator and the parties. At DIAC, though, the DIAC (Administrative Costs and Arbitrators' Fees) Rules, 2018 govern them. Fees are worked out on the claim and any counter claim together (Rule 3(ii)), so a big counter claim pushes the cost up even in fast track. Ask the Centre how the fee will be fixed before you sign the undertaking. Our note on DIAC fees explains the schedule and who pays what. Lawyers' fees are separate. We talk about ours at the first meeting and agree them in writing, stage by stage.

When the six months start, and what happens if the award is late

Count from the day the arbitrator enters upon the reference. The Explanation to Section 29A(1) treats that as the day the arbitrator receives written notice of appointment. Everything before it (your notice, the DIAC filing, the respondent's thirty days) sits outside the six months. Measured from your first notice, a fast track case at DIAC that runs smoothly might take seven to nine months to reach an award. We can't promise that. Both sides have to keep to their dates.

Late award? Section 29B(5) points you to Section 29A(3) to (9). First, the parties may agree on up to six more months. Beyond that the arbitrator's mandate ends, unless a court extends time. You apply to the court that supervises the arbitration, and it can impose conditions, reduce the arbitrator's fees if the tribunal caused the delay, or appoint someone new. The proceedings normally pick up where they left off.

Keep a running count of days in writing. Seriously. If by the fifth month the award plainly won't arrive in time, either sign a consent extension with the other side or file in court while the mandate is still alive. The Section 29A route is explained in our note on the DIAC arbitration time limit.

Where is a DIAC fast track case seated, and which court watches over it?

New Delhi is the usual seat for DIAC cases. Why care? Because the seat fixes which court deals with interim relief, extensions, challenges to the award and appeals. Where a commercial dispute is seated in Delhi, Section 10 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 routes these to the Delhi High Court's Commercial Division if the value is above Rs 2 crore. Smaller matters go to the District Judge (Commercial Court) in the district courts, which means Saket, Tis Hazari, Karkardooma, Rohini, Dwarka or Patiala House depending on the district. There's a proposal to raise the district court limit, so check the current figure before you file anything.

Your business needn't be in Delhi. Picture a manufacturer in Ghaziabad and a distributor in Gurugram, neither with a Delhi office, who agree on DIAC with a New Delhi seat. Delhi courts supervise that arbitration. Flip it around: a clause seating the arbitration in Noida or Faridabad, with DIAC just administering, puts supervision with the courts there, and challenges go to their commercial courts and High Court. So read your clause for 'seat' or 'place'. 'Venue' alone may not settle it.

Any hearing happens at the Centre or over video. On a written track you might not visit Sher Shah Road once, which for a business in Sonipat or Meerut is a real saving of time and travel.

Papers to have ready before you opt for fast track

When the case is decided on paper, the file is the case. If a document isn't filed, the arbitrator never sees it, and there's no witness box where someone can explain the gap away.

The contract and the clause

  • The signed contract, work order or purchase order with the arbitration clause
  • Your written fast track agreement, if there is one, and the Rule 12.2 undertaking
  • Every amendment, rate revision and side letter, even the ones that seem minor
  • Board resolution or authority letter for whoever signs

What you supplied, or what you did

  • Tax invoices, and the GST returns that show those supplies
  • Delivery challans, e-way bills, transporter receipts and goods received notes
  • Completion certificates, sign-off emails, timesheets or job cards, whatever your trade uses
  • Your ledger of their account, certified by your accountant

Why the money is owed

  • Reminders you sent, statements of account, and whatever they wrote back
  • Anything in writing where they admitted the debt, and the part payments they made
  • The legal notice and the notice invoking arbitration, with delivery proof
  • Your Udyam registration certificate, if you're a micro or small enterprise

Electronic records

  • Emails and WhatsApp messages printed out with dates visible
  • A certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
  • Extracts from Tally or whatever accounting software you use, with a short note on how they were pulled
  • A chronology tying each document to a date and an event

Preparing for an arbitration nobody will argue out loud

In a regular arbitration, a witness can sometimes fill a hole in the documents by explaining what happened. Fast track takes that away. Every fact you rely on has to be shown by a document, and every document has to be explained in the pleading so the arbitrator sees why it matters. A ledger alone doesn't prove a sale. Add the invoice, the challan with the buyer's stamp, and the buyer's email asking for a new payment date, and now it does.

Section 19 of the Act frees the tribunal from strict rules of the Code of Civil Procedure and the evidence law. So a fast track arbitrator can act on copies and emails without formal proof. Don't read that as permission to be sloppy. File a certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam for electronic records anyway. Attest true copies the way the DIAC rules require, and keep originals ready for inspection. If the award is challenged later, a tidy record helps the court see the arbitrator had something to go on.

Write for the person reading. A sole arbitrator deciding on paper will go through your statement of claim closely, often twice. Put a short list of dates at the start. Number the documents and cite page numbers. In your reply, deal with their points head-on instead of repeating your claim. A lot of fast track cases go wrong not on the law but because a party assumed the arbitrator would piece together a scattered file. Our note on drafting a DIAC statement of claim goes through structure and content.

How fast track tends to work out for different businesses

  • Suppliers and manufacturers. Goods sold on credit with clean paperwork is the textbook fast track case. If you're a registered micro or small enterprise, look at the MSME Facilitation Council first, because it carries statutory interest and a deposit condition on any challenge. See DIAC or the MSME Facilitation Council.
  • Service firms and IT companies. Unpaid milestones or retainers work well if the client signed off the deliverables in writing. If the client is now saying the software never worked, expect the defence to push for a full hearing.
  • Lenders and NBFCs. Recovery claims with signed loan agreements, disbursement records and account statements are heavy on documents and light on disputed facts, which suits a written procedure. After Perkins Eastman (2019) and the Constitution Bench judgment of 2024, the lender can't appoint the arbitrator unilaterally, so an institutional appointment at DIAC protects the award as well.
  • Startups. Founders usually want speed and low cost above everything. Fast track gives you both, if the fight is about money owed. A fight over who owns the IP, or how a co-founder exits, usually has too many contested facts.
  • MSMEs on the buying side. A supplier proposes fast track and you've got real quality complaints on record? Think hard before signing the undertaking. You'd be giving up the chance to cross-examine the supplier's people.
  • Large companies. A fast track clause in standard vendor contracts can clear small disputes quickly and keep the legal budget predictable. Put a value threshold in the clause, so the big or messy disputes go to the regular procedure.

Fast track, a regular DIAC arbitration or a commercial suit?

A regular DIAC arbitration has two time limits. Pleadings should be done within six months of the arbitrators receiving notice of appointment (Section 23(4)). The award is then due within twelve months of completion of pleadings, extendable by six months by consent and after that only by the court (Section 29A). On paper, that's up to eighteen months to the award before any court extension. Fast track squeezes the lot into six months from appointment.

No arbitration clause? Then DIAC isn't available unless the other side agrees after the dispute starts. Your remedy is a commercial suit, normally after pre-institution mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act. For claims on written contracts, invoices and cheques, a summary suit under Order XXXVII is the court route closest in spirit to fast track, since the defendant needs leave to defend. Our comparison of DIAC arbitration and a commercial suit sets out the trade-offs.

One practical point. An arbitral award isn't a decree as such, but Section 36 lets you execute it like one once the time to challenge has passed or a challenge has failed. Since 2015, a Section 34 challenge doesn't automatically stay the award. Courts commonly ask the losing side to deposit the amount as a condition of a stay. So a quick award is worth having even if they challenge it.

Mistakes that slow a fast track arbitration down

  • Agreeing too late. Once a tribunal is appointed under the regular procedure, Section 29B is off the table. Put the proposal in your very first notice.
  • No signed undertaking. DIAC Rule 12.2 needs an undertaking giving up oral evidence. Without one, the respondent can turn round later and say it never agreed to a paper-only case.
  • A thin statement of claim. Filing a bare claim and planning to add documents later just burns the six months. File the complete claim with the Request under Rule 4.3.
  • Deposits nobody has paid. If a party doesn't pay its share, DIAC can assess fees separately. Under Rule 33.5 the Centre or tribunal can also terminate the proceedings on a claim or counter claim if the deposit isn't paid within thirty days of falling due. See what to do when the other side won't pay its share.
  • Asking for a hearing out of habit. One side asking for a hearing doesn't bind the tribunal. Ask only if a specific issue needs it, and say which one.
  • Losing count of the days. Diarise the appointment date and the six-month mark. A consent extension is easy only while the two sides are still on speaking terms.

Can the other side say no, or back out halfway?

At the start, yes. They can refuse, because fast track is entirely voluntary. If your contract has no fast track clause and the respondent says no, the case goes ahead under the regular DIAC procedure. You can still ask the arbitrator for a tight timetable, and many arbitrators agree. Refusing isn't held against a respondent as such. But a party that later causes delay can be saddled with costs under Section 31A.

Once both sides have agreed in writing and the arbitrator has been appointed on that footing, though, neither can walk away from the procedure alone. The respondent can ask for an oral hearing, but under Section 29B(3)(c) one is held only if all parties ask or the tribunal itself thinks it's needed. If the respondent files no defence at all, the tribunal can carry on and, under Section 25(b), treat its right to file a defence as forfeited. That's not an admission. The claimant still has to prove the claim on the documents.

Sometimes a respondent that agreed to fast track argues later, in a Section 34 challenge, that it couldn't present its case because there was no cross-examination. That rarely works where it signed the undertaking and had a fair chance to file documents and submissions. One more reason to keep the undertaking clean and specific.

Interim relief, picking the arbitrator, and the award

Choosing fast track doesn't cost you interim protection. Before the arbitrator is appointed, you can go to court under Section 9 or to a DIAC emergency arbitrator under Rule 14. After appointment, the sole arbitrator can grant interim measures under Section 17. Our note on interim relief in a DIAC arbitration explains which forum to pick. An urgent application won't knock you off fast track.

Who decides matters more in fast track than anywhere else. One person rules on paper, with little chance to fix a misunderstanding at a hearing. Look for panel members who regularly handle commercial money claims and are known to keep to timetables. Every one of them must disclose, under Section 12, anything that could raise doubts about independence. Our note on how DIAC appoints arbitrators explains how the panel works.

The award can be enforced like any other DIAC award. The losing side gets three months from receiving it to challenge it under Section 34, plus up to thirty days for sufficient cause, and no more. Drafting a new contract and want fast track as the default for smaller claims? Our note on the DIAC arbitration clause lists what to include. For arbitration outside DIAC, ad hoc or under other institutions' rules, our network site arbitrationlawyer.in covers general arbitration practice.

An invented example: a box maker's fast track claim

Invented, for illustration. A Sahibabad unit making corrugated boxes supplies cartons to an Okhla food company under a two-year supply agreement. The agreement has a DIAC clause and a New Delhi seat. Eighteen months of payments arrive on time. Then nothing. When the supplier finally moves, Rs 38 lakh is outstanding. There has never been a quality complaint, and the buyer's only emails talk about payments being 'held due to internal cash flow'.

March: the supplier's notice invoking arbitration goes out, with the claim set out, a proposal for fast track under Section 29B and a draft undertaking enclosed. The buyer's finance head doesn't want a long fight. He signs. At DIAC the supplier files its Request together with the full statement of claim and the supporting papers: invoices, e-way bills, goods received notes, the 'cash flow' emails. The buyer's defence is short. It relies on a volume discount the contract never mentions.

May: a panel arbitrator is appointed. Two rounds of written submissions follow, plus one set of written questions on the supposed discount. October: the award, about five months after the arbitrator entered upon the reference, for the principal, contract-rate interest and post-award interest. The buyer neither challenges nor pays. Once the three months for challenge pass, the supplier files for execution in the commercial court where the buyer banks. Again, this is made up. Your own case will depend on your papers and on what the other side does.

What you can do this week

Start with the clause and read it slowly. Is DIAC named? Is a seat named? Does it mention fast track anywhere at all? Next, limitation. You usually get three years for a money claim, and the arbitration only begins when your notice reaches the other side. Close to the line? Get the notice out first. The procedure can be sorted later.

Then go through the papers as if you were the arbitrator. If each fact you'd need to prove is sitting in a document, draft a fast track agreement and undertaking and send them along with the notice. If the other side has serious complaints already on record, accept that you're headed for the regular procedure and spend the time building the file. Of the fast track matters Advocate B.K. Singh has seen, the ones that finished inside the deadline had a complete statement of claim ready the day the Request was filed.

Our DIAC arbitration lawyer page explains how we run claims and defences at the Centre. Not sure fast track fits? Send your contract, invoices and correspondence to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page and we'll tell you.

Frequently asked questions

What is fast track arbitration at DIAC?

Arbitration on paper. It runs at the Delhi International Arbitration Centre under Section 29B of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and DIAC Rules 12 and 13. A single arbitrator reads the pleadings, documents and written submissions and decides, within six months of entering upon the reference.

Do small claims at DIAC automatically go fast track?

They don't. No claim value triggers it. Both parties must sign up in writing before or at the arbitrator's appointment, along with an undertaking to dispense with oral evidence.

Can we switch to fast track after the arbitrator is appointed?

Section 29B is closed by then, since it needs agreement before or at appointment. You can still agree a quick, paper-based timetable with the tribunal using the freedom Section 19 gives. But there's no six-month statutory deadline in that case.

What if six months pass and there's no award?

Then Section 29A(3) to (9) take over. A consent extension of up to six months is possible. After that, only a court can extend, and it can reduce the arbitrator's fees for delay the tribunal caused or bring in a new arbitrator.

Is there ever a hearing in DIAC fast track?

Rarely. One is held if all parties want it, or the arbitrator thinks some issue needs clarifying in person. Even then it's oral submissions for a fixed time, at the Centre or on video.

Does fast track cost less than a regular DIAC arbitration?

Usually, yes. Fewer sittings, less lawyer time. DIAC's own fees still follow its fee rules and the sum in dispute, counter claim included, so check the current schedule and ask the Centre how it treats a fast track reference.

Can a fast track DIAC award be challenged?

Under Section 34, yes. You get three months from receiving the award, plus at most thirty days for sufficient cause. The grounds are narrow, and the court won't reopen the merits. Having signed up for a paper-only case, a party will find it hard to complain about missing cross-examination.

We're not in Delhi. Can we still use DIAC fast track?

Of course. Businesses in Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Faridabad or anywhere else can choose DIAC. With a New Delhi seat the Delhi courts supervise, and because it's all written you may never need to travel.

Advocate B.K. Singh

Advocate B.K. Singh

Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district and commercial courts in Delhi NCR, and tribunals.

This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.

Talk to an advocate about your dispute

Send the invoices, the contract or the summons. We will tell you the deadline that matters and the next step.

Book Consultation Call +91 96259 61599
WhatsApp us