Flexibility of alternative dispute resolution mechanism hailed

If alternative methods of dispute resolution are carefully conceived and implemented, they will go a long way in accomplishing the Constitutional goal of access to fair, inexpensive and expeditious justice, said Justice Dalveer Bhandari of the Supreme Court here on Saturday.

He was inaugurating the International Conference on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) — Conciliation and Mediation, organised by the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR)

Huge backlog

Pointing out that because of the delay in administration of justice, a cynicism about the effectiveness of the judicial process had developed and, “at times, law's delays benefit the unworthy and penalise the honest,” Justice Bhandari said the problem was not soluble in courts alone. He said as on March 31, 2001, a total of 2,74,28,466 litigations were pending in subordinate courts, 42,92,104 in High Courts and 58,519 in the Supreme Court.

“We need to strengthen the present judicial system and to effectively employ all alternate methods of dispute resolution such as arbitration, mediation, conciliation, Lok Adalat, Gram Nyayalaya and village Panchayat.”

He said that one distinct advantage of ADR over traditional court proceedings was its procedural flexibility, as “it can be conducted in any manner to which the parties agree; in fact, the parties themselves evolve their own procedure.”

Justice P. Sathasivam of the Supreme Court said that the country had not fully exploited the potential of dispute resolution mechanisms and if they were made more efficient, the demand for adjudication would decrease.

“Mediation and conciliation not only address the dispute, they also address the emotions underlying the dispute,” he said adding that in mediation, both parties were given opportunity to express their opinion with complete confidentiality.

Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Justice M.Y. Eqbal said that in the present scenario of globalisation, the survival of the system depended upon timely, cheaper and fair justice to all and for this the country had to adopt ADR mechanism to resolve the disputes of the litigant.

“Even after a bitter battle in the corridors of courts, by sheer magic of mediation along with its counterparts like Lok Adalat, conciliation and arbitration, the parties can walk holding their hands in perfect harmony and friendship.”

Justice Eqbal said that the slow and stagnant pace of judicial discourse should not be allowed to dash the hopes of millions of the marginalised.

Call for nation-wide movement

Former Union Law Minister and Governor of Karnataka H.R. Bhardwaj stressed the need for launching a nation-wide movement for promoting ADR as it was inexpensive, speedy and delivered substantial justice to the common man.

He said there should be no retirement for judges, and Supreme Court Judges should be made “life-time Judges” and his proposal in this regard was pending before the government.

Mr. Bhardwaj said that it was not a good idea to hold a seminar on ADR in a five-star hotel.