Thread by @barandbench

Chief Justice Of India NV Ramana to speak at the India - Singapore Mediation Summit. Chief Justice of Singapore, Sundaresh Menon also a Guest of Honour

Tack this thread 👇 for live updates. Event begins at 10.30 am

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Track*

George Lim SC, Chairman, SIMC delivers the introductory keynote

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George Lim SC: CJI NV Ramana is well known for his role in increasing access to justice. CJ Sundaresh Menon has also been the architect of several judicial reforms in Singapore

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George Lim SC quotes Mahatma Gandhi: "I had learnt the true practice of law. I had learnt to find out the better side of human nature and to enter men's hearts. I realized that the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties riven asunder."

George Lim SC: Gandhi: "The lesson was so indelibly burnt into me that a large part of my time during the twenty years of my practice as a lawyer was occupied in bringing about private compromises of hundreds of cases. I lost nothing thereby - not even money, certainly not soul"

CJI NV Ramana begins his keynote address

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CJI NV Ramana: Namaskar. I express my gratitude to everyone who organized today's event. I am pleased to share this platform with Chief Justice of Singapore Sundaresh Menon, his kindness was apparent during my earlier interaction with him

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CJI NV Ramana: I thank my brother Justice AK Sikri for his support during his tenure at the #supremecourt. Conflicts are unavoidable in any society and with the same, there is a need to evolve a process of conflict resolution.

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CJI NV Ramana: Mahabharat provides an early attempt of mediation. Lord Krishna had tried to mediate between pandavas and kauravas. Mediation is deeply embedded in Indan ethos. Long before British arrived disputes were often resolved by Chieftains or elders

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CJI NV Ramana: British judicial system has ultimately become a framework with modifications for the current judicial system in India. When a judge was going through a newspaper in the morning grand daughter complained to him that someone has taken her toy

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CJI: The judge then asked about what is the evidence? This is the symbol of our judicial system. The motto of Indian Supreme Court is to bring complete justice between parties.

CJI: Need for mediation arises from judicial delays. It is often stated that there are 45 million pending cases and its said because courts cannot handle it. It is an uncharitable analysis.

CJI: Cases filed yesterday get added to the list and thus not a useful indicator to see how well a system is doing. Issue of judicial delays is a complex problem and just not in India.

CJI: In India there is an aspect of luxurious litigation where parties instituted several suits to thwart the judicial process. this constributes to judicial delay. Legal aid programs in India is one of the largest and robust.

CJI: legal aid is one of the largest success stories of modern India. A lot of poor depend on the legal services authority. Apart from this the authority also deals with mediation through Lok Adalats. They dealw ith cases which are referred to them by courts or parties themselves

CJI: there was a need to increase the confidence of foreign and domestic investors and help them settle disputes. After India opened its economy, the arbitration and conciliation act was brought into force and was perhaps the most important legal reform.

CJI: Beside a participatory model, mediation and arbitration allows parties to become insiders in a process which was earlier out of bounds for them. This is important. In Indian conciliator can form a proposal of settlement and draw up the same.

CJI: In a constitutional challenge to section 89 of CPC, a committee was formed to frame rules. This led to the start of court-appointed mediation in India. SC held that duty of court is of find the area of resolution and refer parties to the same

CJI: I have personally seen disputes which has gone on for decades is solved within a short time due to mediation. Afcos International judgment had played an important role and was a start of court appointed mediation.

The Supreme Court of India on the administrative side has played an active role to improve mediation. The Supreme Court mediation committee was set up for this purpose. : CJI

CJI: About 1 million cases were settled by mediation India by March 2021. issues of legitimacy, credibility and accessibility of mediation need to be looked at.

CJI: regarding role of mediator-it was thought to be a role of facilitator initially. Therefore they acted only as a guide

CJI: but now with more complex problems being referred to now, role of mediators is evolving and now they have to provide more assistance. he has to assess relative strength and weaknesses of the parties.

CJI: you can call this the mediators modern dilemma. But when one party is better situated economically and politically than the other party and settlement is patently unjust to the other party. Should the mediator be silent then? These are some questions one must consider

CJI:India has diverse social fabric where substantive equality needs to be upheld even in the process of mediation. My object is to not discourage mediation but make it more robust and meaningful. Indepth and continuous training of mediators are needed

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CJI: Pilots are needed to undergo training every year where they are given multiple scenarios on how to land. Mediators need to go through such training so that innovation can be brought on board. Another important point is the neutrality of mediators

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CJI: For this the rules governing mediators must bring about transparency and accountability.

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Several states are bringing about robust mechanism for Alternative Dispute Resolution. State of Telangana recent set up a word class ADR facility and I hope other states take note of it. It is time for India to enter Mission mode

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CJI NV Ramana ends his key note address

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