Sriram Panchu’s contributions hailed

Judges of the Madras High Court, top law officers and eminent advocates paid rich encomiums to senior counsel Sriram Panchu for having been conferred Lawyers of India Day award by the Bar Association of India. They concurred that he richly deserved the award for his mammoth contribution to the growth of mediation and conciliation proceedings.

Presiding over a felicitation function organised by Mediators India, a pan Indian association of mediators, Justice Vineet Kothari said he considered Mr. Panchu to be an institution by himself for he was an authority on mediation. The judge said, he possessed all three books penned by the senior counsel on the subject and had a glimpse of an yet to be released book too.

Referring to a recent judgement delivered by the Supreme Court with regard to converting the process of mediation from an informal activity to a formal process by codifying it, the senior judge said, mediation had taken off well in Tamil Nadu under the guidance of Mr. Panchu and efforts were underway to give an impetus to the alternate dispute resolution mechanism.

In his address, Justice D. Krishnakumar of the High Court said, Mr. Panchu was instrumental in establishing the Tamil Nadu Mediation and Conciliation Centre and his services were recognised by former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju when the latter was holding office as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court.

Justice M. Govindaraj recalled the days when he practised as a lawyer and received extensive training on mediation from Mr. Panchu. Advocate General Vijay Narayan said, Mr. Panchu was also one of the foremost proponents of the consumer movements in the country and he did it much before the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 came into force.

Additional Advocate General P.H. Arvindh Pandian said if mediators in the State could be compared to Arjuna in Mahabharat, then their success would solely depend upon Mr. Panchu who stands by their side like Lord Krishna. Women Lawyers Association president S. Nalini too was among those who felicitated.

Justices S. Vaidyanathan, V.M. Velumani, Anita Sumanth and C. Saravanan also participated in the function.