Supreme Court judge rues rising cost of litigation

Mediation can reduce backlog of cases

“The cost for getting justice is frightening. Court cases are sophisticated and time-consuming and hence people are not interested,” Justice Bhandari said on Sunday. He was speaking at the second regional conference of southern states organised by Bangalore Mediation Centre (BMC).

Justice Bhandari, who is also the chairperson of the Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee, noted that justice had become prerogative of individual judges. “This will not happen during mediation,” he said.

Terming mediation as an alternative solution to settle disputes, Justice Bhandari said the process has the potential to reduce the backlog of court cases. He said people still had faith in the judicial system and that the latter had been unable to deliver justice.

Justice Cyriac Joseph, another Supreme Court Judge, said mediation, apart from resolving issues also brings in an element of understanding and relationship between the parties.

“Mediation helps improve human relationships and is a peace making process with a deeper meaning attached to it,” he added.

Justice Vikramjit Sen, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court was all praise for the BMC. He said Bangalore had a success rate of 63 per cent in mediation.

According to legal experts present on the occasion, more than two crore cases were pending before subordinate courts as on March 31. A whopping 42 lakh cases are pending adjudication before High Courts and 56,683 cases await disposal in the Supreme Court.