National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of Law recently launched the NALSAR Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Centre for Mediation.

The Centre will take up consumer disputes referred for mediation by the Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions across the State.

The ODR Centre has the active support of the Telangana State Legal Services Authority and the Telangana High Court, and is working with Webnyay for providing technology for online hearings, case and document management.

The Centre was launched on November 7 in Hyderabad at a programme organised by the Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. The event was attended by Telangana High Court Acting Chief Justice P Sam Koshy and Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya.

Justice Koshy said that mediation had to become an integral part of the consumer justice system rather than a step parties discovered only after years before a commission.

"The time has come to consciously cultivate an institutional attitude where the message is, let us first mediate before we litigate. This is not a retreat from adjudication. It is an effort to reserve adjudication for those disputes which genuinely require an authoritative determination...The true success of consumer protection is not merely when a consumer wins a dispute. It is when a consumer obtains a fair remedy without having to spend years pursuing it," he said.

He welcomed online mediation while cautioning against assuming access.

"Online mediation can be particularly beneficial where parties are in different cities or in the remote corners of the State. But digital mediation must also account for persons who lack technological access or digital literacy. Convenience for one section must not become the exclusion of another," he said.

Justice Bhattacharya set out the procedural case for mediation in consumer matters and called for specific reforms to make it work in practice.

"A complaint is meant to be decided within three months, or five months where the goods require testing. Pendency figures show that cases run far longer than that cap. Mediation, by contrast, has a fixed outer limit. The Mediation Act of 2023 requires mediation to be completed within 120 days of the first appearance before the mediator, extendable by 60 days with the consent of the parties...In most litigation, there is a stronger party and a weaker party, and that is measured not only by resources or the value of the dispute but by the kind of counsel a party can afford. Mediators must be trained to spot unequal bargaining power at the outset and keep the talks balanced," she said.

The ODR Centre will also conduct short training programmes for mediators and advocates, and students of the University will work on case management, coordination and documentation under the supervision of faculty and empanelled mediators, so that the Centre functions as a teaching facility alongside its dispute resolution work.