Report No. 176

(20) section 20:

Section 20(1) as it stands now states:

"The parties are free to agree on the place of arbitration". Section 20 is in Part I of the Act and concerns arbitrations in India. Obviously, sec. 20(1) is subject to sec. 2(2) and for the reasons given in Chapter II, in the case of arbitrations to which Part I applies, the place can only be in India. In order to clear the misunderstanding and for the detailed reasons given in Chapter II, we propose adding the word 'within India' at the end of sec. 20(1) so that the place selected is restricted to India, and the other sub sections are converted into provisos, so that even in case parties disagree, the arbitral tribunal can select a place within India only.

(paragraph 2.14.1)