Best Other Side Not Cooperating? Get an Arbitrator Appointed by Court Lawyer

If you have sent an arbitration notice and the other side has ignored it, refused to agree on anyone, or named an arbitrator only it controls, the law gives you a way forward. You apply to the High Court under Section 11, and the court appoints an independent arbitrator. In an international commercial dispute, the application goes to the Supreme Court.

This page is for claimants stuck after sending a notice, and for respondents faced with an arbitrator they never agreed to. The court's job at this stage is narrow. It checks whether there is an arbitration agreement and appoints someone. It does not decide who is right. Section 11(13) asks courts to try to dispose of these applications within 60 days, though in busy High Courts it can take several months.

Once the court appoints an arbitrator, the Section 11 court's role ends. Everything after that, from pleadings to the award, happens before the arbitrator.

Is this your situation?

What the court will and will not do

Which court to approach

For a domestic arbitration, the application goes to the High Court that has jurisdiction. Where the contract names a seat, the High Court with jurisdiction over that seat is generally the right court. In April 2026, in J&K Economic Reconstruction Agency v Rash Builders, the Supreme Court repeated that the courts of the seat have exclusive jurisdiction, and that a "venue" chosen only for hearings does not decide this.

If no seat is named, the court looks at where the cause of action arose and where the parties are located, and the place with the closest connection. For a dispute between a Noida company and a Delhi company over a Delhi contract with no seat clause, the Delhi High Court is often the right forum, but it depends on the facts.

For an international commercial arbitration, where at least one party is a foreign national, a company incorporated abroad, or a body managed abroad, the application goes to the Supreme Court under Section 11(6) read with 11(12). If the arbitration is seated abroad, Indian courts generally have no Section 11 power at all; the institution or the foreign court appoints.

Getting this wrong wastes months. A petition filed in the wrong High Court is returned or dismissed, and the clock on limitation keeps running in the meantime.

How a Section 11 petition works

Time and typical cost range

Our fees are agreed in writing at the start, stage by stage, and are not linked to the result.

Documents needed for the petition

Where your petition goes

When the other side names its own arbitrator

A very common reason for a Section 11 petition is that the other side, often a company, government body or lender, has appointed an arbitrator by itself and says the clause allows it. Courts deal with this regularly.

If the person appointed is legally ineligible under Section 12(5) and the Seventh Schedule, because of a link to the appointing party, that appointment is void from the start, and the court can appoint a substitute. If the clause gave one side the sole right to choose a sole arbitrator, Perkins Eastman (2019) and CORE (2024) make that clause unenforceable as written, and the court steps in. The five-judge bench in CORE said its ruling applies to appointments made after 8 November 2024, and it discussed three-member tribunals in particular, but the earlier rule against one-sided sole arbitrators already applied before that.

If you are the respondent and the claimant has done this, you do not have to wait. You can object, take part in the claimant's Section 11 petition if one is filed, or approach the court yourself. Do not attend the one-sided arbitrator's hearings without recording your objection.

What the respondent can argue

A respondent can argue that there is no arbitration agreement at all, that it never signed or agreed to the clause, or that the clause is not really an arbitration agreement. For example, in Nagreeka Indcon v Cargocare (April 2026), a clause saying disputes "can be" settled by arbitration with further consent was held not to be a binding agreement.

A respondent can also argue that the petition itself is time-barred, or that the claim is so plainly dead that no arbitrator should be troubled with it. Courts accept this second argument only in clear cases.

Arguments about the merits, about whether a "full and final settlement" was really free and voluntary, about quantum and about most limitation points belong before the arbitrator. Raising them at the Section 11 stage rarely succeeds and adds cost. The better course is often to agree on a competent independent arbitrator and fight the case properly.

Laws that apply

How we work

We are a litigation and advisory practice led by Advocate BK Singh, with offices in Dwarka (New Delhi) and Vaishali (Ghaziabad), and associate counsel in other High Courts. This is what you can expect:

• Right court first time: we check the seat and jurisdiction before filing.
• Clean petitions: short, documented and focused on what the court actually decides.
• Both sides handled: we file petitions and oppose them.
• Eye on the next stage: we start preparing the statement of claim while the petition is pending.
• Written fee terms: agreed stage by stage, never linked to the outcome.

Mistakes that delay appointments

Harder cases: several parties, several contracts, three arbitrators

Three-member tribunals. Many clauses provide that each side appoints one arbitrator and those two choose a presiding arbitrator. If the other side does not appoint its nominee within 30 days of your request, or the two arbitrators cannot agree on the third within 30 days, Section 11(4) lets you apply to the court. The court then appoints the missing arbitrator. Since CORE (2024), a clause that forces you to pick your nominee from a short panel controlled by the other side is also open to challenge, because it gives one party effective control over the tribunal.

Several contracts, one dispute. A project may involve a main contract, sub-contracts, a supply agreement and a guarantee, each with its own clause. If the clauses are similar and the contracts are closely linked, courts sometimes allow one arbitration to cover them, or appoint the same arbitrator in each. If the clauses point to different seats or institutions, separate references may be unavoidable. We map every agreement before filing.

Non-signatories. After Cox and Kings v SAP India (2023), a Section 11 court may refer a non-signatory to arbitration if there is enough material to suggest it is bound, leaving the final decision to the arbitrator. You will need documents showing that company's role in negotiating or performing the contract.

Unstamped or under-stamped agreements. Before 2023, courts sometimes refused to act on agreements that were not properly stamped. A seven-judge bench in In re Interplay between Arbitration Agreements and the Indian Stamp Act (December 2023) held that unstamped agreements are not void and that stamping objections are for the arbitrator, not the Section 11 court. The stamp duty may still have to be paid later, so do not ignore it.

Fees, institutions and who pays

When a court appoints an arbitrator, it often fixes the terms on which the arbitrator will act. Delhi High Court appointments frequently refer the matter to the Delhi International Arbitration Centre, whose fee schedule then applies. In other courts, the order may refer to the Fourth Schedule to the Act, or leave fees to be agreed with the arbitrator.

The Supreme Court in ONGC v Afcons Gunanusa (2024) held that arbitrators cannot unilaterally fix their own fees in a way that binds the parties, and that the Fourth Schedule is not mandatory where parties have agreed otherwise. It also explained that the ₹30 lakh ceiling in the schedule applies to each arbitrator for the base and variable amounts together. In practice, it is wise to settle fees in writing at the first meeting, including what happens if the case grows or settles early.

Each side normally pays half of the fees as the case goes on, and the arbitrator decides who finally bears them in the award. If the other side refuses to pay its share, you can pay it to keep the case moving and claim it back.

What to do the day the order comes

The order appointing the arbitrator is the starting gun. Send a copy to the arbitrator at once, with the parties' contact details, unless the court registry does it. Ask the arbitrator to issue the Section 12 disclosure and fix the first procedural meeting.

At that meeting, expect directions on the timetable for the statement of claim, defence and counter-claim; whether hearings will be physical, online or mixed; the language; the venue; how documents will be exchanged; and fees. Have your statement of claim well advanced by then. Six months for pleadings sounds long, but it includes time for the other side's defence, your reply, any counter-claim and the reply to that.

Remember that the Section 11 court has finished its job. If later you need time extended under Section 29A, or the arbitrator substituted, the application goes to the "Court" under Section 2(1)(e), which may be a district commercial court rather than the High Court. The Supreme Court made this clear in Jagdeep Chowgule (January 2026) and Viva Highways v MPRDC (February 2026). See time extension.