Restructuring Procedures in Construction Industry to Avoid Disputes – A Study Through an Arbitral Award

Conflicts have existed in all cultures, religions, and societies since time immemorial, as long as humans have walked the earth. Since conflicts are an integral part of human interaction, one must learn to manage them, to deal with them in a way that will prevent escalation and destruction, and come up with innovative and creative ideas to resolve them. Construction disputes, when not resolved in a timely manner, become very expensive – in terms of finances, personnel, time, and opportunity costs. There are many other ways of dealing with disputes. These options and possibilities create 'a menu' of Alternative or Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) that parties may choose to use, with the intent of removing a potential source of conflict, preventing its escalation into a dispute, and finding the way back to a constructive cooperative and a potentially productive future working relationship.It is established beyond doubt that ADR mechanisms are the best options available especially after the enactment of Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1996, with the role of judicial courts restricted to the barest minimum, yet the disputes by themselves could be avoided by restructuring procedures in the construction industry. This paper deals with restructuring and refining of construction procedures by studying an arbitral award. This award is taken as a typical case, as on most of occasions, it is observed that the contractor or the department would invoke the arbitration clause for remedy and further, the study of award would reveal that the dispute itself could have been avoided had all the procedures were in place