Four months after his retirement as a judge of the Supreme Court, the Centre appointed Justice Hemant Gupta as Chairperson of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre.
Set up in 2019, the NDIAC has been declared to be an institution of national importance and is mandated to be a seven-member body that is headed by a former Judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court or an eminent person.
In a notification issued December 19, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Justice Gupta’s appointment. He retired on October 16, after a four-year tenure in the top court.
During his Apex court tenure, Justice Gupta delivered several important judgments, including the verdict in the Karnataka Hijab ban case. In the split verdict in the Hijab case, Justice Gupta, just three days before his retirement, had dismissed the appeals challenging the March 15 judgement of the Karnataka High Court which had refused to lift the ban. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia disagreed with Justice Gupta.
Justice Gupta was also part of another two-judge bench split verdict delivered in August this year in which the Karnataka High Court’s decision allowing the use of Idgah Maidan in Bengaluru’s Chamarajpet for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations was challenged. The case was heard by a three-judge bench the same day which stayed the High Court ruling.
The Centre also appointed Ganesh Chandru, Partner at Dua Associates, and Advocate Anant Vijay Palli as part-time members at NDIAC.
Last week, Union Minister for law and justice, Kiren Rijiju, introduced a Bill to rename the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as the India International Arbitration Centre in the Upper House and it was passed by voice vote.
