BANGLADESH Law and Practice Contributed by: Sharif Bhuiyan, Dr Kamal Hossain and Associates
7.4 Legal Representatives Under Section 31 of the Act, unless otherwise agreed by the parties, a party to an arbitration may be repre - sented in the proceedings by a lawyer or other person chosen by him. There are no requirements under the law for the representative to be a lawyer. If a lawyer represents a party in an arbitration, there is also no requirement for the lawyer to be admitted to the local Bar. This applies to both international commercial arbitration and domestic arbitration. 8. Evidence 8.1 Collection and Submission of Evidence Section 34 of the Act provides that, unless otherwise agreed by the parties: • evidence may be given before the arbitral tribunal orally or in writing or by affidavit; or • the arbitral tribunal may administer oath or affirma - tion to a witness, subject to his consent. There is no other specific provision in the Act regard - ing discovery, disclosure, privilege, use of witness statements and cross-examination. These issues can be covered by agreement between the parties or terms of reference or by procedural orders issued by the tribunal. 8.2 Rules of Evidence Section 24 of the Act states that the arbitral tribunal is not bound to follow the Evidence Act 1872 of Bangla - desh in disposing of a dispute under the Act. Parties may agree on the rules of evidence to be applied in the arbitral proceeding. In the absence of parties’ agreement, the tribunal may make an appro - priate order upon consultation with the parties. 8.3 Powers of Compulsion Section 33 of the Act permits either the tribunal or a party, if permitted by the tribunal, to apply to the court for issuing summons upon any necessary per - son for examination, or for the production of goods or for appearing before the tribunal for both purposes. However, this person cannot be compelled to answer any question or produce any document, which cannot
• terminate the proceeding where the claimant fails to communicate his statement of claim (Section 35 (2)); • continue the proceeding ex parte where the respondent fails to communicate his statement of defence (Section 35 (2)); • make an award dismissing the claim of the claim - ant, where the arbitral tribunal is satisfied that there has been inordinate and inexcusable delay on the part of the claimant in pursuing his claim and that the delay gives rise to or is likely to give rise to a real risk of there being no fair resolution of the dis - pute, or has caused, or is likely to cause, serious prejudice to the respondent (Section 35 (3)); • if, after receiving notice in this regard a party without sufficient cause fails to attend or be repre - sented at an oral hearing, or fails to submit written evidence or make written submissions, the tribu - nal may continue the proceedings in the absence of that party or, as the case may be, without any written evidence or submissions on his behalf, and may make an award on the basis of the evidence before it (Section 35 (4)); • if without showing sufficient cause a party fails to comply with any order or direction issued by the tribunal, the tribunal may make an order requir - ing compliance with such order or direction within such time as it may deem fit (Section 35 (5)); • if a claimant fails to comply with an order of the tri - bunal requiring a deposit or security for costs, the tribunal may make an award dismissing the claim (Section 35 (6)); or • if a party fails to comply with any other kind of order, then the arbitral tribunal may: (a) direct that the party in default shall not be entitled to rely upon any allegation or material which was the subject matter of the order; (b) draw such adverse inferences against the de - faulting party from the act of non-compliance as the circumstances justify; (c) proceed to passing an award on the basis of such materials as have been properly provided to it; or (d) make such order, as it thinks fit, as to the pay - ment of costs incurred in consequence of the non-compliance (Section 35 (7)).
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