For ADR to be effective, it needs to be affordable to all: Justice S Ravindra Bhat

Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms to be effective should be affordable to all, Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat recently said..Justice Bhat said that the aim should be to reach a level wherein pro bono mediators can be appointed for those individuals or small-time business owners who cannot otherwise shoulder the expense associated with it."If ADR is to be an effective dispute resolution mechanism, it needs to be affordable by all - access to quality proceedings cannot be the right of the privileged few," he stated.He was speaking at the launch of the book ‘Mediation: Theory to Practice’ by advocate Iram Majid..On mediation as a mode of ADR, Justice Bhat said that while traditional adversarial proceedings don’t allow for the consideration of complicated feelings and emotions of the parties - thereby making dispute resolution very mechanical, restricted to the facts alone - mediation directly addresses this aspect."It makes space for parties to air their differing views in a controlled environment. The ability to put the offender in the shoes of the offended in order to bring home the true effects of one’s words/actions is a powerful technique, which enables mediation to resolve disputes more efficaciously than traditional approaches in some cases," the judge stated.These aspects are captured in Majid's book, Justice Bhat added."This is eloquently captured in Ms Majid’s analysis of transformational conflict ideology, in which the mediator instead of endeavoring towards a definite settlement, tries to increase the alternatives available by compelling parties to empathize and understand each other’s perspective, thereby attempting to restore them to their former amicable status. In chapter 3 of the book, Ms Majid draws on dispute resolution practices from various cultures to successfully demonstrate this," he stated..Pertinently, Justice Bhat also touched upon the increased reliance on technology post COVID-19 which has augmented Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)."In traditional mediation wherein the parties have to travel long distances to attend the proceedings, ODR saves valuable time and resources. Its promising to witness significant strides being taken towards modernizing mediation - such as utilization of video conferencing to conduct proceedings, software applications to sift through mass volumes of submissions made thereby allowing the Mediator to focus on the most imperative information, and efforts made by the government in its recommendations provided by the NITI Aayog Expert committee on ODR," he said.The event was also attended by Delhi High Court judges Justices Manmohan, Najmi Waziri and Sudhir Jain and Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi among others.