Lord Krishna was the first arbitrator: Arjun Ram Meghwal at launch of Arbitration Centre in Kerala

Lord Krishna could be viewed as the first arbitrator, observed Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal while speaking at the launch of a new Arbitration Centre at the Kerala High Court on Saturday (August 17). .Referring to Rashmirathi, a poem penned by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar on the story of Karna in the Hindu epic, Mahabharata, Meghwal recalled that Lord Krishna had tried to convince the eldest Kaurava, Duryodhan to arrive at a compromise so that a war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas could be averted.However, Duryodhan refused to accept such a settlement, leading to the Kurukshetra war. "Lord Krishna, you can say was the first mediator or arbitrator when the Kauravas and Pandavas were in conflict ... Krishna offered a resolution which Duryodhan couldn't give nor could he earn the blessing of the society, instead he attempted to blind the divine, attempted the impossible," Meghwal remarked.In this regard, he quoted the following lines from the poem which encapsulate Krishna's advice to Duryodhan."Do Nyaay agar toh aadha do; Par isme bhi yadi badha ho, toh de do keval panch gram; Rakho apni dharti thamaam, hum wahi khushi se khayenge; Parijan par asi na uthayenge; Duryodhan wah bhi na de saka."(Translation: Give justice, even if it's in half; and if there is any problem in this, then give only five grams; keep all your land. We will happily eat there, we will not raise the sword on our family! Duryodhan could not give that too.)The poem and the conflict resolution initiated by Lord Krishna showed the importance of accepting minimal solutions to avoid conflict, Meghwal added. .Meghwal also highlighted the government's commitment to promoting arbitration as a viable solution to tackle the rising pendency of cases in court.He discussed the legislative interventions made to strengthen arbitration laws, citing amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act in 2015, 2019, and 2021. These changes aimed to provide fast and time-bound arbitral proceedings, boost institutional arbitration, and reduce reliance on ad-hoc arbitration, he said..The Arbitration Centre launched at the event is intended to address the growing judicial backlog by offering a faster and more cost-effective way to resolve disputes. Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, A Muhamed Mustaque also launched a dedicated website for the centre, marking a historic moment for the Kerala judiciary."This Arbitration Centre is a historic moment for all of us. Courts are public institutions that should spare their time and resources for larger public causes. All sorts of private disputes should be resolved otherwise so that courts can focus on societal interest," Justice Mustaque said in his keynote address to emphasize the importance of the newly launched centre.The judge spoke about how arbitration gained prominence in recent years and urged government authorities to refer their disputes to this centre to ensure faster adjudication and to reduce the burden on the judiciary."I hope that the Central and State governments will again show interest in referring disputes to the Arbitration Centre, as we see a lot of disputes under writ petitions, making it difficult for the government and contractors to get faster adjudication due to the large number of evidence and formalities followed under the Evidence Act," Justice Mustaque added..Justices Dinesh Kumar Singh and PB Sureshkumar along with Senior Advocates Anil Xavier and KL Varghese, Kerala High Court Advocates's Association President Yeshwanth Shenoy, Bar Council of Kerala Chairman Ajith TS, State Attorney N Manoj Kumar, Additional Solicitor General of India ARL Sundaresan, Member of Parliament Hibi Eden and other Kerala High Court judges also attended the event.