Centre is contemplating effecting an amendment to Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 in view of the delay in arbitration,Union Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M Veerappa Moily said on Wednesday. "Due to inordinate delay in arbitration,government is contemplating bringing in an amendment to the present Arbitration Act. We are also constituting a committee to look into this delay," Moily said. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating an Alternate Dispute Resolution Cell (ADR) here,Moily said the ADR is not intended to do away with litigation,but to reduce increasing pendency in courts. "It is not only cost effective,but also less time consuming and a method in which both the petitioner and respondent stand to gain as the grievances are resolved in a conciliatory manner," he said. With 52,592 cases pending in the Supreme court as on June 30,2009 and 71,680 cases and 49,417 cases pending in the Allahabad and Kolkata High Courts respectively till December 2007,ADR was the need of the hour,the minister said. "The ADR should,however,become a movement. For this legal literacy is needed and we have to adopt methods to do that," he said. Moily said his ministry is focusing on capacity building and to boost its efforts,four schools of excellence in law will be established. A meeting of Vice-Chancellors of all law schools has also been convened next month to discuss ways to improve legal education,Moily said. Moily said ADR would effectively put an end to the "dangerous trend of engaging middlemen to settle disputes". He pointed out that the Supreme Court has set up a committee to finalise the draft rules of ADR. Lauding the work done by Lok Adalats,he said they have settled 2.72 crore cases in the last decade. "We are aiming at settling four crore cases through Lok Adalats in the next five years," Moily added. "We are also trying to establish Gram Nyayalayas wherein disputes can be settled within six months. With this the pendancy can be brought down by 50 per cent," he said. Governor H R Bharadwaj,who also spoke,said ADR was increasingly being recognised as an effective alternative to the courts. Earlier an MoU was inked by the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) and National Law School of India University (NLSIU) to set up ADR cells. NLSIU faculty will also conduct workshops for FKCCI members.
