In short. According to the Centre's contact page, the DIAC address is S Block, Delhi High Court Campus, Sher Shah Road, New Delhi 110503, with reception desks on the first and second floors. Preliminary hearings mostly happen online these days. Evidence, final arguments and some applications are heard in the Centre's own hearing rooms. Budget a morning or an afternoon for a physical sitting. Got a date? Confirm the mode and the slot with your Deputy Counsel, and get your advocate to arrange a gate pass.
Is this your situation?
- There's a DIAC hearing next Thursday, and you've no idea where the Centre is or how you get in.
- Your company is sending you to Delhi as a witness, to be cross-examined at DIAC.
- Your lawyer says the next sitting is virtual. You've never joined an online hearing and want to know what happens.
- The other side is pushing for a physical hearing when video would suit you better, or the reverse.
- You'll be coming in from Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad or further away and want to plan the morning properly.
- You simply want to know what goes on inside a DIAC hearing room before you walk into one.
Where exactly is DIAC on the High Court campus?
The Delhi International Arbitration Centre works from inside the Delhi High Court campus on Sher Shah Road, New Delhi. Its own contact page gives the DIAC address as S Block, Delhi High Court Campus, Sher Shah Road, New Delhi 110503. The same page lists two reception desks, one on the first floor and one on the second, each with its own landline and mobile numbers. Offices inside a big court campus do move. Look at the contact page on the DIAC website the day before you go.
First visit? Don't look for a separate building on the main road. There isn't one. You go through the High Court's gate and security first, and then walk across to the block where the Centre is. The security staff at the gate can point you there, and most advocates who practise in the High Court know the way. On a busy court day, give yourself fifteen to twenty minutes from the gate to the hearing room.
For anything in writing, the contact page has one email address for filing new cases and another for administrative matters. Questions about a particular case should go to the Deputy Counsel assigned to it, on the email or phone number the parties were given. Once your case is registered, ring the Deputy Counsel. The general reception can't help much.
Getting through the High Court gate on a DIAC hearing day
Advocates walk in on their identity cards. Everyone else is a visitor. Parties, company officers and witnesses without a court identity card generally need a gate pass. The Delhi High Court has online gate pass registration on its website. You enter your name, mobile number, the reason for your visit and your advocate's name, and the advocate is asked to approve it. On the day, you collect the pass at the counter by showing the registration number and a photo identity document. You can still get a pass manually, but expect to wait longer for it. The procedure changes now and then, so check the High Court website before the hearing.
Sort this out a day early. Picture a witness turning up at the gate at 10:25 for a 10:30 sitting, with no pass registered. He'll lose the first half hour, and the tribunal may have to reshuffle the day around him. Get your lawyer's office to register every person coming, expert included. Each of them should also get the hearing time, the floor and the Deputy Counsel's name.
Bags go through a scanner at the entrance. Bring only what you need. That's the hearing documents, your identity proof and a charged phone on silent. Suitcases are a real nuisance in a court complex, so outstation witnesses should leave theirs at the hotel.
Getting to DIAC by metro, cab or car
The Delhi High Court sits between India Gate and Pragati Maidan. Three metro stations are each about a kilometre and a half away: Supreme Court and Indraprastha on the Blue Line, and Khan Market on the Violet Line. Most people take an auto or a cab for the last bit, particularly in May and June. From Noida or Ghaziabad, the Blue Line to Supreme Court station is usually easiest. From Gurugram, take the Yellow Line and change to the Violet Line for Khan Market, or take a cab, which on a good day is about as quick.
Visitor parking at the High Court is limited. Don't count on it. The roads around it are crowded on court days too, so unless your lawyer has made other arrangements, plan to be dropped at the gate. Traffic on the Ring Road, Mathura Road and around ITO is heavy from nine to eleven. Leave early.
DIAC's timings are on its website. The filing notice there currently says filing happens between 10 AM and 3 PM on working days. Hearings are a different matter. The tribunal fixes them through the Deputy Counsel, and they can run well into the afternoon. Confirm your slot. Don't assume court hours.
Booking a DIAC hearing room
The parties don't book DIAC hearing rooms themselves. The Centre does. On the DIAC website there's an availability page where you can pick a date, the mode (physical, online or hybrid), whether you need a stenographer, and a start and end time. It's for planning and nothing else. The page says plainly that it doesn't confirm or reserve anything, and that the Deputy Counsel handling your case makes the booking, depending on what's free at that point.
What usually happens is this. At the end of each sitting, the tribunal asks counsel on both sides when they're free and fixes the next date. The Deputy Counsel then books the room or the video link. Need a stenographer for cross-examination, or a bigger room because several witnesses and an expert are coming? Say so while the date is being fixed. And ask the Deputy Counsel whether extra sittings or stenography carry any additional charge under the current fee rules. Better to know now than find out later.
The rooms look more like a meeting room than a courtroom. There's a table for the tribunal at one end, counsel and parties down either side, a chair for the witness and, if you've booked one, a stenographer. No dock. No public gallery either, because Section 42A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 makes arbitration confidential. The only people in the room should be the parties, their lawyers, witnesses when they're called, the tribunal and DIAC staff.
Which DIAC hearings happen online, and which in person?
DIAC's practice direction on virtual preliminary hearings, dated 29 May 2026, says preliminary procedural hearings must be held virtually. The physical rooms are kept for evidence, final arguments, applications under Sections 13, 16 and 17 of the Act, and other cases where people need to be present. The tribunal decides the mode after hearing both sides, so read the current practice direction and the procedural order in your own case. Our guide on DIAC practice directions and how they affect your case explains how these directions work.
An online procedural hearing at DIAC is usually brief. The tribunal takes appearances, notes what's been filed, sets or adjusts the timetable, and deals with small applications like a request for more time. Twenty to forty minutes is common. What matters more than the hearing is the order sheet or procedural order that follows. It records the dates you have to meet.
Hybrid hearings happen too. With the tribunal's permission, a witness abroad or in another city can be examined by video while counsel and the tribunal sit at the Centre. If the case turns on whether a witness is believed, a party may insist on that witness coming in person, and the tribunal will weigh it against cost and convenience.
How a DIAC virtual hearing runs, from link to logout
The Deputy Counsel sends the link and the time to counsel on both sides and to the tribunal. Log in ten minutes early. Put your full name and role on screen, something like 'Counsel for Claimant' or 'AR, Claimant company'. The tribunal starts by taking appearances, and each counsel says whom they represent. Stay on mute unless you're speaking. Don't record the hearing unless the tribunal allows it.
If a witness is going to be examined online, the tribunal usually fixes a protocol beforehand. The witness sits alone in a quiet room. The camera shows the witness and the table. No notes within reach except the bundle the tribunal permits, and documents are shown by screen share or from an agreed electronic bundle. Breaks happen when the tribunal says so. During a break, nobody talks to the witness about the evidence.
Advocate B.K. Singh's advice for online sittings is plain and it saves a lot of grief. Test the link and camera the evening before. Keep a second device and a mobile hotspot ready. And keep a paper copy of the indexed bundle next to you, so you can find page 214 while the screen share is still loading. A connection that drops halfway through cross-examination rattles a witness more than any question will.
Can you ask for a physical sitting instead of a virtual one, or the other way round?
You can. How a sitting is held is a procedural question for the tribunal, and either side can ask for a change if it gives reasons. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 sets the frame. Section 18 says the parties must be treated equally and each given a full opportunity to present its case. Under Section 24, the tribunal decides whether to hold oral hearings or go on documents alone, but if a party asks for oral hearings it must hold them at an appropriate stage, unless the parties agreed otherwise. Section 20(3) lets the tribunal meet anywhere it thinks fit to hear witnesses, experts or the parties. That's why the venue can be different from the seat.
A request for a physical sitting carries most weight when credibility is in play and the tribunal needs to watch a witness answer. A witness whose account of a site meeting is disputed, say. Or an expert whose calculations have to be tested one page at a time. A request for a virtual or hybrid sitting is strongest when the point is narrow, the witness lives far away or is unwell, or the travel would cost more than the point is worth. In our experience, tribunals are practical about this. They want to know what will actually help them decide.
Ask early. The best moment is when the date is being fixed, and put it in writing through the Deputy Counsel if the tribunal wants that. A request to switch modes sent the night before a sitting rarely works, and it doesn't look good. If the other side wants a mode that puts your witness at a disadvantage, explain why clearly and offer something else, such as a hybrid sitting with the documents shared beforehand as an agreed electronic bundle.
A physical hearing day at DIAC, from the gate to the order sheet
This is roughly how an in-person sitting for evidence or arguments goes.
The day before
Your lawyer's office confirms the slot and the room with the Deputy Counsel and registers gate passes for everyone who's coming. Each witness gets the time, the floor and a short note on what to expect. The bundles are checked against the index already filed in the case.
Arrive and clear security
Be at the High Court gate at least 45 minutes before the sitting. Collect the passes and get through security. Then walk to the DIAC block and report at reception on your hearing room's floor.
Settle in
Counsel lay out the bundles on the table. If a stenographer's booked, they set up. Witnesses wait outside until they're called, unless the tribunal says otherwise.
Appearances and housekeeping
The tribunal takes appearances and records any documents handed up. Small things come first. An objection to a document, for example, or a request to swap the order of witnesses.
Evidence or arguments
At an evidence sitting, the witness's affidavit is taken as evidence in chief and the other side cross-examines, with re-examination after if it's needed. At final arguments, each side argues in turn, and usually hands up a written note of submissions so the tribunal has something to work from when it writes the award.
Recording what happened
The stenographer takes down the cross-examination word for word, or the tribunal dictates it as it goes, and at the end the witness reads each page and signs it. Corrections are asked for then. Not later.
Next date and the order
Before rising, the tribunal fixes the next date with counsel. The Deputy Counsel then sends out the order sheet or procedural order, and your lawyer should forward it to you that same day.
If the hearing can't go ahead, say because a witness is ill or a deposit hasn't been paid, tell the Deputy Counsel and the other side as soon as you know. A sitting cancelled at the last minute can still cost money, and some goodwill with the tribunal.
Kinds of DIAC sitting: mode, length and cost
| Sitting | Usual mode | How long it usually takes | Costs involved (apart from lawyers) |
|---|---|---|---|
| First procedural hearing | Virtual, under the practice direction of 29 May 2026 | 20 to 60 minutes | Covered by the deposits already paid under the 2018 fee rules |
| Later procedural hearings and applications for time | Virtual, most of the time | 15 to 40 minutes | Normally nothing beyond deposits; ask whether extra sittings are charged |
| Applications under Sections 13, 16 or 17 | Physical, or as the tribunal decides | One sitting, occasionally two | For interim relief, a provisional fee deposit may be needed under Practice Direction 01/2024 |
| Admission and denial of documents, framing of issues | Virtual or physical, as directed | One sitting | In most cases, nothing beyond deposits |
| Cross-examination of witnesses | Physical, or hybrid if permitted | Anything from half a day to several days for each witness | Stenographer if booked; witnesses' travel and stay |
| Final arguments | Physical | One sitting or several | Written submissions; remaining fee instalments when called for |
| Pronouncement or delivery of award | Normally sent out to the parties by DIAC | Usually there's no sitting | The award may shift costs under Section 31A |
What to take with you to a DIAC hearing
Everyone who's attending
- A photo ID: Aadhaar, PAN card, passport or driving licence
- Your gate pass registration number
- A charged phone on silent, with the Deputy Counsel's number saved in it
Counsel and the company's representative
- An indexed, paginated bundle that matches the one filed at DIAC
- The latest procedural order and the order sheet from the last sitting
- A written note of submissions or list of dates, with a few spare copies
- The representative's board resolution or authority letter, if it hasn't been filed already
A witness
- A copy of their own affidavit of evidence, with nothing written on it
- Any original documents they've been asked to bring
- Nothing else in hand unless counsel and the tribunal say it's fine
For a virtual sitting
- A laptop with a camera, a link you've already tested, and a backup device
- A paper copy of the bundle and its index
- A quiet room where nobody else can be seen or heard
What happens when a witness is cross-examined at DIAC?
Most DIAC cases are won or lost in cross-examination. It's also the sitting most likely to need a real room. The witness takes the chair and confirms the affidavit and the signature on it. Then the other side's counsel starts asking questions. The tribunal may put a few of its own. The answers get recorded, either word for word by a stenographer or as a summary dictated by the tribunal, and at the end the witness reads the record and signs it.
Witnesses get nervous mostly because they've never seen the room, and it's nothing like what they picture: smaller and quieter than a courtroom, with nobody in a gown except, sometimes, counsel. The usual rules of giving evidence still apply. Listen to the whole question. Answer that question and nothing more. Say 'I don't know' or 'I don't remember' when that's true. If a question mentions a document, ask to see it.
When Advocate B.K. Singh gets a company witness ready for a DIAC cross-examination, he makes sure the witness has read the whole bundle once, not just the affidavit. He also has them look at the other side's documents, because that's where most of the questions come from. He doesn't rehearse answers. He explains how the room works and what sort of question to expect. For a longer preparation list, see our guide on questions to ask before your first DIAC hearing.
When the case goes to court instead: applications and challenges
Some fights in a DIAC case end up in court, not in the hearing room. Interim measures before the tribunal is formed are asked for in court under Section 9. DIAC does offer an emergency arbitrator under Rule 14 of its 2023 Rules, though, and our guide on interim relief in a DIAC arbitration weighs one against the other. A challenge to the award goes to court under Section 34. Enforcement goes under Section 36.
For a Delhi-seated commercial arbitration, Section 10 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 sends those petitions to the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court if the value is above Rs 2 crore. Below that, they go to the district Commercial Courts. A proposal to raise the district limit has been under consideration, so check what it is today. Either way, the petition is heard in the High Court's main buildings or in a district court complex like Saket or Karkardooma. Not at DIAC.
It's the seat in your clause that decides this, not your office address. Take a Noida company in a Delhi-seated DIAC arbitration. It goes to the Delhi courts for Sections 9, 34 and 36, even though its ordinary commercial suits would be filed in the Commercial Court at Surajpur. If the seat is somewhere else, those courts supervise, even when hearings are held at DIAC as the venue.
An invented example: a Ghaziabad contractor's first day at DIAC
The facts are made up. A Ghaziabad civil contractor has a Rs 1.9 crore claim against a Delhi hospital trust for extra work on a new wing, and the arbitration is at DIAC. The first two procedural hearings were online, and the contractor's managing director logged in from his site office. Now the tribunal has listed the cross-examination of the contractor's project engineer at the Centre. Thursday, 11 AM.
Two days ahead, the lawyer's office registers gate passes for the managing director, the engineer and the site accountant. It confirms the room and the stenographer with the Deputy Counsel and sends each of the three a short note with the DIAC address and floor. The engineer takes the metro to Supreme Court station and an auto to the High Court gate. He's there at 10:05. The managing director's driver can't find anywhere to park, so he gets dropped at the gate and walks in.
The cross-examination goes on until 1:30 PM, with one short break. Most of the questions are about the measurement book and the hospital's site instructions, and before he leaves, the engineer reads through the stenographer's record and signs every page. The tribunal lists the hospital's witness five weeks later. To repeat, this is an illustration, and a real case could go quite differently.
How do you find out the next date and what the tribunal ordered?
The next date is fixed at the end of every sitting and goes into the order sheet or procedural order, which the Deputy Counsel circulates. Your lawyer should send it on to you the same day. If a date changes later, maybe because an arbitrator can't make it, the Deputy Counsel emails counsel. Our guide on keeping track of DIAC case status and hearing dates explains what to watch.
Keep a register of your own. The date of each sitting, the mode, what happened, what was ordered, the next date, and anything you have to do before it, like filing an affidavit or paying a deposit. Deposit dates matter as much as hearing dates. Under Rule 33.5 of the 2023 Rules, a claim or counter claim can be terminated if a deposit stays unpaid for 30 days after it falls due.
If a court filing needs a certified copy of an order or the award, DIAC has a procedure for issuing one. Our guide on getting certified copies of DIAC orders and awards sets it out.
Tips for parties and witnesses travelling in from outside Delhi
Coming from Lucknow, Jaipur or Mumbai? Book travel so the witness arrives the evening before. Morning flights and trains into Delhi run late often enough, and a morning sitting won't wait. A hotel in central Delhi, near Pragati Maidan or Connaught Place, keeps the morning drive short. If travel really is hard, ask the tribunal in advance whether a hybrid appearance is possible, and be ready to say why.
Foreign witnesses take more planning. There's the visa, a translator if the witness isn't comfortable in English, and a firm decision on whether they'll appear in person or by video from abroad. The tribunal will want to know the time zone and how documents will be shown. The procedural order spells it out.
Last, think hard about who actually needs to be there. A company director doesn't have to sit through every procedural hearing. Frankly, he shouldn't, if his time is better spent running the business. But the authorised representative should attend evidence and final arguments, because questions about settlement or instructions can come up without warning.
Before your next DIAC hearing
Check three things with your lawyer: whether the sitting is physical or virtual, the exact time, and who's expected to be there. If it's physical, get gate passes registered for everyone, check the DIAC address and floor on the contact page, and leave yourself a margin on the road. If it's virtual, test the link and keep a paper bundle beside you. Read the last procedural order too. It tells you what the tribunal expects to happen.
If you're just starting out, our simple explainer on what DIAC is and the guide to the DIAC arbitration process give you the bigger picture. The claim and defence work our team takes on at the Centre is described on our DIAC arbitration lawyer page.
Want your hearing papers, procedural orders or witness affidavits looked at before the next sitting, or updates as DIAC's practice directions change? You can reach Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
Is DIAC inside the Delhi High Court?
Yes. DIAC works from the Delhi High Court campus on Sher Shah Road, New Delhi. You go through the High Court's security first and then walk to the block where the Centre is. The DIAC contact page has the current block and floor.
Do I need a gate pass for a DIAC hearing?
If you don't have a court identity card, you'll generally need a visitor gate pass for the Delhi High Court campus. You register online, your advocate approves it, and you pick up the pass at the counter with a photo ID. Check the current procedure before the day.
Can I join a DIAC hearing by video from another city?
For preliminary hearings, yes, since they're mostly virtual now. For evidence and final arguments, the tribunal decides whether a party or witness can join by video after hearing both sides. Ask your lawyer to raise it well before the date.
Who books the hearing room at DIAC?
The Deputy Counsel assigned to your case books the room or the video link, usually once the tribunal has fixed a date with counsel. The availability page on DIAC's website is only for planning. It doesn't reserve a slot.
Can my company's directors sit in on a DIAC hearing?
Yes, a party's representatives can attend along with counsel. Arbitration is confidential, though, so outsiders can't come in without the consent of the parties and the tribunal. Witnesses usually wait outside until they're called.
Is there visitor parking at the Delhi High Court?
There's some, but it's limited and you can't rely on it. It's safer to get dropped at the gate, or take the metro and then an auto. Your lawyer's office will know the current position.
What should I wear to a DIAC hearing?
There's no dress code for parties and witnesses beyond neat, formal or business clothes. Advocates usually turn up in professional dress. Wear comfortable shoes. There's a fair bit of walking inside the campus.
What happens if I miss a DIAC hearing?
If you had notice and no sufficient cause for staying away, the tribunal can go ahead without you, and it may pass an order you'll find hard to undo. Can't make it? Tell your lawyer and the Deputy Counsel immediately, so an adjournment can be asked for in time.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district and commercial courts in Delhi NCR, and tribunals.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.