Retired Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul has been appointed a member of the Bahrain International Commercial Court by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
He is among the nine members appointed to the newly established BICC. Leading arbitrator Jan Paulsson has been appointed as BICC president and former British judge Sir Christopher Greenwood as its vice president.
The BICC is a part of the Bahrain government’s “Team Bahrain” to enhance private sector investment in the country by providing a forum for dispute resolution between parties.
The BICC will have exclusive jurisdiction within the country to hear international commercial disputes and will also be empowered to hear arbitration-related matters.
Justice Kaul retired on December 25, 2023, after serving as a judge of the apex court for over six years. During his tenure he authored decisions in several important rulings, including a concurring opinion in the landmark nine-judge bench case recognising the right to privacy as a fundamental right in 2017.
In December 2023, he was a part of the seven-judge bench that ruled in favour of upholding the validity of an ‘unstamped’ arbitration agreement — where the parties had not paid the necessary stamp duty for the contract to be admissible before a court of law. The court held that the “defect” could be rectified at a later date, noting that the purpose of the Indian Arbitration Act was to provide “speedy and efficient resolution” to disputes.
In his final year as an SC judge, Justice Kaul authored decisions rejecting the Centre’s curative petition to enhance compensation for victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy and upheld the Bar Council of India’s power to conduct the All India Bar Examination.
Justice Kaul’s legal career began in 1982 after graduating from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University. He became an advocate-on-record in 1987 and was given the coveted senior advocate designation in 1999. He was appointed as senior counsel for the Delhi High Court and Delhi University, and served as additional senior standing counsel for Delhi Development Authority.
His career in the judiciary began in May 2001 when he was appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court. In September 2012, he served a brief 2-day stint as Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi HC. In June 2013, he was appointed the Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana HC before being transferred to the Madras HC in July 2014, where he served as the Chief Justice until February 2017.
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