Lok Sabha Question No. 2144 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-29
Subject: Legal Arbitration Centres
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Manne Srinivas Reddy, Komati Reddy Venkat Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

## *****

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2144 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 29 TH  JULY, 2022

## Legal Arbitration Centres

## 2144.           SHRI MANNE SRINIVAS REDDY: SHRI KOMATI REDDY VENKAT REDDY:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state :

(a) whether any discussion was held during the two-day conference on Mediation and Information Technology at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat on the concept of Alternative  Dispute  Resolution  (ADR),  through  Lok  Adalats,  Gram  Nyayalayas, mediation and arbitration centres, which have the potential to transform the legal landscape of the country by providing millions of people a platform to settle their grievances, if so the details and the outcome thereof;

(b)  whether  the  Government  has  stressed  the  need  for  bringing  justice  to  the millions and settle their grievances without protracted legal proceedings, if so the details and the results achieved therefrom, court-wise; and

(c)  whether  there  is  need  of  an  active  effort  to  be  made  by  the  courts  to  make negotiations  and  mediation  mandatory  as  part  of  case  management,  if  so,  the details and present status thereof till date?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a): Yes  sir, a  two day National Judicial Conference  on ' Mediation  and Information Technology ' was organized by the Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat on 9 th and 10 th April, 2022 at Ekta Nagar, Narmada District, Gujarat.

The Hon'ble President of India, while inaugurating the Conference said that ADR mechanism and the ICT in the Judiciary are important for many reasons as both will help make the system more efficient and thus better able to dispense justice. The Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, in his speech stated that the concept of ADR, through Lok Adalats, Gram Nyayalayas, mediation and arbitration centers, has the potential to transform the legal landscape of India by providing millions of people a platform to settle their grievances. He further stated that imbibing effective ADR mechanisms into the judicial process can reduce pendency, save judicial resources and time, and allow litigants a degree of control over the dispute resolution process and its outcome. He stressed that technology can be beneficially employed by the judicial system. It has the potential to simplify the process. Courts in India have started utilizing technology and various initiatives have been taken up such as E filing,  Computer  Assisted  Transcription,  Document  Display  System  and  the integration of Courts under one IT Infrastructure. Recently, the Supreme court  has launched 'FASTER', a digital platform for fast and secured delivery of urgent court orders  in  encrypted  electronic  format,  to  the  stakeholders.  This  would  ensure effective implementation of court orders, without any delay.

(b): It  is  the  endeavour  of  the  Government  that  judiciary  and  legislature  work together in one direction for better coordination for making reforms in the judicial system to reduce the burden of cases and deliver speedy justice. The Government is  promoting  ADR  mechanisms  including  arbitration  and  mediation  as  these mechanisms are less adversarial and are capable of providing a better substitute to the  conventional methods of resolving disputes. The use of ADR mechanisms is also  expected  to  reduce  the  burden  on  the  judiciary  and  thereby  enable  timely justice dispensation to citizens of the country.

To enable arbitration as a viable dispute resolution mechanism, the Government has amended the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 in the years 2015, 2019 and 2021. The changes are enabled to signal a paradigm shift for ensuring timely conclusion  of  arbitration  proceedings,  minimizing  judicial  intervention  in  the arbitral process, enforcement of arbitral awards and strengthening of institutional arbitration in the country. The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was amended in the year 2018  to provide for Pre-Institution  Mediation  and  Settlement  (PIMS) mechanism.  Under this mechanism, where a commercial dispute of specified value does not contemplate any urgent interim relief, the parties have to first exhaust the mandatory  remedy  of  PIMS  before  approaching  the  Court.  This  is  aimed  at providing an opportunity to the parties to resolve the commercial disputes through mediation.

The Government has also introduced the Mediation Bill, 2021, in the Rajya Sabha on 20.12.2021 to enact a standalone law on Mediation. The Bill aims to inter-alia promote, encourage and facilitate mediation for resolution of disputes, commercial or  otherwise,  enforce  mediation  settlement  agreements  and  to  establish  the Mediation Council of India.

Further,  ADR  mechanisms  are  resorted  outside  the  courts,  hence  no  court-wise data in this regard is available.

(c): As per section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 where a suit does not contemplate  any  urgent  interim  relief  under  the  Act,  the  parties  have  first  to exhaust the remedy of Pre-Institution Mediation (PIM) conducted through Authorities constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987. Also, even during the  Court proceedings to fast  track  the  adjudicatory  process, the  Code of Civil  Procedure   (CPC)1908 has been amended in its application to Commercial disputes  of  specified  value.   Order  XV-A  of  CPC  as  applicable  to  such  disputes provides  for  Case  Management  hearings.   Also  as  per  section  89  of  the  CPC,  if there  appears  to  Court  that  there  exists  element  of  Settlement  which  may  be acceptable to the parties, the Court shall formulate the terms of settlement and give them to the parties for their observations and after receiving the observations of the parties, the Court may reformulate the terms of a possible settlement and refer the same for arbitration; conciliation; judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat; or mediation.

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