Hyderabad,   Chief Justice of India, N.V. Ramana on Saturday laid foundation stone for permanent building India's first International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC).

The building of Hyderabad International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (HIAMC) is coming up behind IKEA in HITEC City on a piece of land allotted by the government of Telangana.

The CJI thanked government of Telangana and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for allocating valuable land in the heart of the city for HIAMC and Rs 50 crore for construction of the building.

Justice Ramana termed IAMC a "big" step in promoting arbitration and mediation in this part of the world. He said during the international arbitration conference to be held in Dubai on March 17-18, HIAMC will showcase their progress and functioning of the centre and hoped that this will help attract international arbitration to this centre.

The CJI hoped that IAMC Hyderabad will emerge as an arbitration and mediation centre on par with such centres in Dubai, London and Singapore.

Life trustee of the centre, Justice R.V. Raveendran, Supreme Court judges L. Nageswara Rao, Hima Kohli and judges from the Telangana High Court attended the event.

Telangana's ministers Indrakaran Reddy, K. T. Rama Rao, Mahmood Ali, T. Srinivas Yadav, Srinivas Goud, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar were also present.

The centre was jointly inaugurated by CJI and the Chief Minister in December. The centre started functioning from 25,000 sq ft temporary accommodation at VK Towers in Gachibowli.

Those who empanel the centre include internationally acclaimed arbitrators and mediators from countries such as Singapore and the UK.

The CJI had then lauded Telangana government for the speed with which it launched the project. He recalled that he broached with the Chief Minister on June 12, 2021 during his first visit to Hyderabad. The trust deed was signed on August 20 and the MoU between the government and the trust was signed on October 27.

"The setting up of IAMC at Hyderabad is an important step towards enhancing the ADR landscape of the country. While arbitration centres have already been set up in India, most prominently in Delhi and Mumbai, domestic and international parties still appear to prefer to go to foreign countries for dispute resolution," Ramana had said, as he exuded confidence that this trend will change with IAMC at Hyderabad.

"Domestic and international parties will increasingly come to this centre, which has world class facilities. Its location in Hyderabad will also be an attraction," he had said.