CJI for mediation to solve disputes

Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia has said mediation is a sounder mechanism to resolve "complex" commercial disputes involving the pricing of natural resources like gas and oil as judges may lack the expertise and their decisions could affect the country's economy.

The CJI, who was speaking at a national conference on mediation here on Saturday, voted in support of alternative dispute redressal mechanisms like "facilitative" mediation to strike a balance between national interest and a global economy.

"We can have facilitative mediation in disputes in pricing of natural resources like the pricing of gas and oil which are complicated matter. Judges do not have expertise to deal with those matters. The judgments delivered by judges sometimes can hit the economy of the country which is not good," he said.

"When such commercial matters come before us, entire world watches us. Therefore, in complicated commercial matters, facilitative mediation should be resorted to balance the economic interest and natural resources on one hand and on the other hand profit of corporates," the CJI said.

He said the government, as the owner of natural resources, should select mediators who are experts in the particular sector in question.

The two-day conference has been organised jointly by the Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee of the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court Mediation Monitoring Committee.

President Pratibha Patil, in her inaugural address, said mediation could evolve as an effective mode of settlement of disputes.

"This (mediation process) creates an opportunity to arrive at a win-win formula as mediation is built around a culture of give and take. When a dispute is resolved through this process, there is no winner or loser, for the parties agree to the solution whereas in litigation there is always a loser. This is a positive outcome," the President pointed out.

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