Mediation to be part of LLB: CJI

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 16

Stressing the need to use pre-litigation mediation to settle disputes, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on Monday said lawyers qualified in mediation could contribute a lot to the justice delivery system.

“Surprisingly, no courses are available for conferring a degree or diploma in mediation. I had mentioned this to the BCI and they had in principle agreed to introduce new courses in this line. Perhaps there is also a need for a Judicial Academy in the lines of National Defence Academy,” CJI Bobde said at a function organised by the Bar Council of India to felicitate him.

BCI Chairman Mamam Kumar Mishra announced that mediation would be taught as a separate subject as a part of LLB course curriculum from the next academic year.

“There is a need for pre-litigation mediation. Mediation is a non-adjudicative and voluntary form of settling disputes that is conducted in the shadow of the law and necessitates the participation of lawyers in assisting mediators in the dispensation of cases due to the legal expertise that a lawyer can provide. The existence of a qualified mediation bar would enable the lawyers to contribute effectively to the justice delivery system, while satisfying their monetary needs as well,” the CJI said in his address.

“I must use this occasion and forum to urge you to find ways and means to get the dispute settled by deploying various Alternative Dispute Resolution techniques. The courts must come into picture only in those cases where either legally or factually it’s impossible to get it settled by ADRs.”