Law Minister Kiren Rijiju: Keenly encourage lawyers to engage productively with ODR mechanisms

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju: Keenly encourage lawyers to engage productively with ODR mechanisms

The Indian Mediation Week, which wrapped up in Bengaluru recently, featured a pre-recorded message from Rijiju. Lawyers and law students were lately urged to use Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) methods more frequently by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.

The Indian vision of access to justice will be met if lawyers and law students engage more productively in ODR mechanisms, he said.

In a pre-recorded message, Rijiju addressed Indian Mediation Week's fifth edition, which took place recently in Bengaluru. MB Nargund, Additional Solicitor General for the Karnataka High Court, and Member-Secretary Ashok Jain awarded trophies at the event, which was held from December 13-17 at the Bangalore International Centre.

During the recently concluded Winter Session of Parliament, the Draft Mediation Bill, 2021, was to be introduced and tabled for public discussion.

In his speech, Rijiju expressed his support for the event's organizers, SAMA, for their efforts to create national mechanisms for resolving disputes.

Through online discussions, several talks of the event focused on promoting the use of mediation by law students, engineers, enterprises, and state officials, highlighting the opportunities for those involved in mediation.

According to Ashok Jain, who delivered the opening address at the summit, we believe that continuous improvement will ensure ODR is strategically resilient regardless of what the future holds. The Pandemic has taught us that ODR is a highly effective tool that ensures full access to justice for all.

According to ASG Nargund,

SAMA's system of E-Adalats and how they resolved 2 lakh cases in a year amazed me. Alternative dispute resolution has its roots in India in the form of the Panchayat system.

The event also featured presentations by ICICI Bank's Group General Counsel Pramod Rao and Bhopal Principal District Judge Giribala Singh, as well as National Justice Secretary GR Raghavender.

Indian Mediation Week is a campaign each year to promote mediation as a viable alternative to the court system. The SAMA reported that mediation is an accessible alternative whose awareness remains very low in India's judiciary to lessen the growing burden on the judiciary.

Aside from acknowledging and recognizing those who have contributed to the movement for access to justice, the event seeks to address this gap in awareness. Around 102 cities in India have held 2,400 ADR awareness drives since the initiative began.

Our coverage of mediation developments is available.