CJI for mediation, resolving disputes at pre-litigation stage

NEW DELHI: It is the duty of the judiciary to see that people do not lose faith in it and resort to violence to show their dissatisfaction, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan said on Saturday, favouring mediation as an alternative to litigation. Referring to recent examples of vigilante justice, he said alternative dispute resolution (ADR) could help share courts' burden and ensure that people's confidence in the judicial system "does not get eroded." "It is our duty that people shall not resort to violence and show dissatisfaction with the present system," he said. "The mindset of judges, lawyers and litigants needs to change to ensure some disputes are solved through ADR," Chief Justice Balakrishnan inaugurating an international conference on Alternative Dispute Resolution attended, among others, by Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales N A Phillips. "For this, the rules should be flexible and friendly for the litigants... and lawyers should also play a constructive role," he said, suggesting a system where case can be settled at pre-litigation stage. Supreme Court judge Arijit Pasayat said with 13 judges for a population of million the mind boggling arrears of cases in the country did not come as a surprise. He said the legal fraternity wasn't solely responsible for the pendency of cases and pointed to the need to upgrade infrastructure in courts. We need infrastructure for courts for their effective functioning so that it could be said "while justice delay is justice denied, justice hurried is not justice buried."
THE TIMES OF INDIA; 29 Mar 2008, 1644 hrs IST , PTI