To reduce the burden of pending cases on courts and to relieve litigants, as many as 19 mediation and conciliation centres have been set up in the courts of Punjab and Haryana. One such centre was inaugurated at the District Courts here today.

Justice S B Sinha of the Supreme Court today inaugurated these centres through video conferencing along with Justice T S Thakur, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh.

The new centres will function at Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Sangrur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Patiala, Faridkot at Moga districts courts in Punjab and Faridabad, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Sonepat, Jind, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari and Hisar districts courts in Haryana.

In Ludhiana, this centre has been set up in room number 15-A in the judicial court complex building on the third floor.

Giving details, the District and Sessions Judge and Chairman District Legal Services Authority G K Rai said Additional District and Session Judge Kishore Kumar and Civil Judge Randhir Verma will act as mediators in the centre.

Rai further said that 173 cases have been referred by various courts, out of them 128 were taken up on the first day. The judge said that this centre will try to resolve these cases with the mutual consent of the concerned parties within 90 days.

He said that in this centre, the cases relating to civil suits, matrimonial disputes, Motor Accident and Claims Tribunal (MACT) cases and cheque bounce cases will be settled with mutual consent of the parties involved. He said people should bring their cases in the Mediation and Conciliation Centre for speedy disposal of their cases. Rai further said the centre will not only provide speedy justice to litigants, but also help in reducing the pendency of cases.

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