Delhi high court Justice Vipin Sanghi disbanded an arbitration tribunal that had run up a bill of Rs 1.44 crore charging Rs 18 lakh as fees per hearing, reported the Times of India.

The tribunal, comprised of retired Supreme Court and high court judges, was hearing an arbitration between the government and three private firms, and was dissolved with mutual consent of both parties after the government approached the HC with the request to do so.

The tribunal had already been paid Rs 47.25 lakh towards fees. Without commenting on the fee amount the HC ordered that no further fees should be paid to this tribunal and appointed retired SC judge GS Singhvi as the sole independent arbitrator for the dispute.

In September, partners from a number of Indian law firms formed the Indian Arbitration Forum with a view to excluding the judiciary from arbitrating disputes, in part because of the exorbitant fees charged by retired judges on arbitration tribunals.