Adv. Tariq Khan was featured in Fortune 500 (India) magazine (Special Issue, 2017-2018) for authoring the best seller book “On the Rise”.  Recently he was featured in Forbes Top Individual Lawyers (India) and BW’s Youngest Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer. He is frequently invited to speak in various law conferences and events by domestic bar associations, law schools, alternative dispute resolution centers amongst other organizations. He has been teaching arbitration as a guest faculty for the past six years in some of the prominent law schools of India. Mr. Khan has wide experience in International and Domestic Arbitration, MSME disputes, and Commercial Laws. 

Mr. Khan opens up about his journey from a Law Student of Jamia Millia Islamia to becoming an Arbitrator. 

Before we start can you please introduce yourself to the viewers?

I am basically from Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh), I completed my schooling from Shahjahanpur and later moved to Delhi. I wanted to be an Engineer, but was not able to crack a good rank. In entrance exams like AIEEE and others, I scored a rank in 4-5 digits. So, I did not have any option left, then one fine day my father told me to consider law as an option. And that’s how I ended up doing law. Specifically, I say “I did not choose law, law chose me”. And then I graduated from faculty of law Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi, and then I started working with a company. And now I am in the Arbitration field for more than 6 years.

So how was your experience with traditional universities which did not offer any placements?

So, that was pretty interesting and honestly, it’s more of a challenge. So it was that time we did not have placements in college, so each and every student was on its own. That time we had to do a lot of internships. We had to ensure we secure a good internship and I was unable to secure it. Neither did I applied to firms where I did my internships and nor was I  knowing much about law, and was not so focused about my future too. So, I started trying in every legal aspect, once I will go for criminal law, other times I was an intern in a corporate law firm.  So, in the last days of my law program we made a placement cell, and I was chosen as the coordinator of placement cell but it’s still difficult. Some of the colleges are privileged to have a proper placement cell and have a tie up with big firms and companies and our placement cell was not that organized so, it was a tough task.

So, do you think is it necessary for a law graduate to explore the law field and to do internships in every arena of law, whether it be Criminal, Civil, Corporate or any other?

There are people who are focused since the beginning, they have had that exposure to law, maybe his/her father is in this field or any other family member and that has been a motivation for him/her to pursue law and perhaps they are clear about this field. So, there is a very small fraction of people who are confident about what they want to pursue, and maybe with the experience of moot courts they have identified their area it could be criminal, corporate or arbitration, so I suggest Moot Courts are really crucial in your law program, they give you every idea about researching, drafting, how to argue, a new level of confidence is developed and it keeps on boosting up with every new moot court. And for the students who have still not identified their arena of interest, I suggest them to do a lot of internships in different field. For me in my college days I was not a focused person and I did a lot of internships be it in Amarchand Mangaldas or others and that’s how I realized I have no interest in corporate law, then I switched to Criminal but later I was able to discover my truly interested area that is Arbitration. So, the idea over here is not to look for more and more options but to seek out the area of your interest, the ultimate career option. And by the end of 5th year in law course you will land up into something concrete but if not than let destiny decide.

So, my question is how do you see the landscape of Arbitration in India?

So, the Arbitration landscape in India has changed drastically. It’s not the case that Arbitration has been in India since 1996, some people say it’s from 1940, some say it’s the 1889 Act but I believe it was since the Bengal Regulation Act. The New Act may be introduced in 1996 but till 2000 or even 2012 very few people exercised this option, but in the last 6-7 years we have seen a tremendous increase in arbitration cases because now have understood that if we want more Investments from Foreign Entities in India than arbitration is the only key because nobody wants to go to the court of law. Justice Fali.S. Nariman said that the Future of Arbitration is bright but the future of Litigation is not. And after the amendment introduced in   2015, introducing the time span for resolution of disputes, now a person has an idea about the time when he could get justice unlike regular courts, and this has made arbitration gain momentum.

You have a liking towards teaching, so have you ever considered that as your profession?

So, I do have a strong liking to it and I have been teaching for 6 years now. After I finished my graduation, I started teaching in Indian Law Institute (ILI) as a guest faculty. The students I taught were either lawyers or were of the PG-Diploma course. I even took lectures in most of the law schools in Delhi. And I like teaching only because as a teacher you can shape up the lives of many people, but I would like to discuss a major drawback in the Educational Sector in India is that Justice Krishna Iyer once said Education in India is priced not imparted. In today’s scenario, law schools have become money-sucking machines. And some of these institutions instead of teaching what law is should focus on what it should be.  Law schools should adopt unconventional methods and should focus more on practical aspects of the law.

What is the most intriguing part of Arbitration?

Flexibility is the most interesting part of the arbitration. There are no formalities or complexities in arbitration. And the fact it is international in nature. You are not limited to one court; there is no bar to the area of practice. And for me that you don’t have to stick to procedural law in arbitration and of course the lifestyle that comes with it is what fascinates me the most.

So, do you think India has really started to prefer Arbitration over Litigation since India is trying to become an arbitration hub in Asian-Pacific Region?

Yes, the landscape of India is changing with Arbitration being in Frame. In my opinion the Government of India is doing a great job, the judiciary is trying really hard, passing different judgements some of be it BASL, URBAN PARK, MEDANTA VS UOI, ANANT GLOBAL. By these judgements’ judiciary has given a good message to investor’s community at large. Judiciary has taken an investor friendly approach but we also have judgements where a regressive approach is taken. It is like one regressive approach can take us 10 years back and will take years to correct this error. We also face issues like the sloppy drafting of law, or the improper laws in arbitration, or the amendments not addressed. The amendments in 2015 were so badly drafted that it took the Supreme Court three years to interpret them whether it has retrospective applicability or prospective applicability. In my opinion more clarity is required while drafting any law and we should adopt institutional arbitration. As compared with Singapore India was ahead in arbitration laws yet Singapore is a new busy hub of arbitration and all the credit goes to the Supreme Court of Singapore. They have upheld arbitration agreements, enforced award, they have interpreted public policy that too on a narrow basis and there were judgements interpreted so broadly in India that they made all this process expensive. India needs a new Act and strong center. You don’t need infrastructure or high-class facilities; only leadership is required. 

How is arbitrability of fraud, interpreted by the Judiciary in India?

Any dispute which involves or has an impact on the public at large is not arbitrable. So, fraud falls into this category and it was discussed that it is a crime in society. Justice Fali.S.Nariman clarified this and moved to a more arbitrable approach, that fraud is arbitrable.

What advice will you give to students, who want to go in Arbitration?

I would firstly advise students not to get carried away by what they see.  Don’t get carried away by the achievements of people on social media, because nobody exposes their failures, believe in the concept of bad days too. Any area involves a lot of hard work, you will have to face a lot of sleepless nights. If you are passionate about arbitration, you should be ready to deal with voluminous documents. Do it when you are confident about it, and be clear about what are you getting into. And the most important thing is to follow your heart. 

How does it feel to be enlisted in Forbes Legal Power List 2021?

Frankly, it’s just nice. It’s a good feeling that finally your efforts are being acknowledged and appreciated. Recognized by a reputed magazine in the world is a great feeling. I want to say that there are so many people better than me, I just think I got lucky or fortunate. I am proud of myself to be considered in these great magazines and it makes me feel that yes, I have done some decent work and I am capable of giving my best in future. It honestly acts like a fuel because when you are recognized or acknowledged you want to work more to achieve other milestones. The idea of all this is to perform better each day, to see ourselves as our only competitor and outshine ourselves each day. I will conclude that it’s a very long journey and it’s just a beginning for me.