Legislative delinking of arbitral commencement from judicial petitions

The statutory architecture of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 deliberately models the UNCITRAL framework by completely delinking the legal commencement of arbitration from the institution of judicial court proceedings. The legislative choice ensures that arbitral proceedings commence through party-to-party notice without dependency on court filings or judicial contingencies. A court error that attempts to substitute the date of filing a Section 11 application for appointment of an arbitrator as the date of commencement of arbitration directly violates the text, autonomy, and underlying scheme of the Act. (Regenta Hotels Private Limited v. M/s Hotel Grand Centre Point | 2026 INSC 32)