Keenly encourage lawyers to engage more fruitfully with ODR mechanisms: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju recently called upon lawyers and law students to adopt Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) methods more frequently.."I keenly encourage lawyers and law students to engage more fruitfully with ODR mechanisms for the Indian vision of access to justice to be met," he said..Rijiju spoke in a pre-recorded message for the fifth edition of the Indian Mediation Week that recently concluded in Bengaluru. Held from December 13-17 at the Bangalore International Centre, the event saw the felicitation of the top-performing neutrals and case managers by Member-Secretary of the National Legal Services Authority Ashok Jain and Additional Solicitor General of India for the Karnataka High Court, MB Nargund.The event came close on the heels of the Draft Mediation Bill, 2021, which was supposed to he introduced and tabled during the recently-concluded Winter Session of Parliament..During his speech, Rijiju endorsed the organisers of the event, SAMA, for their work towards ODR mechanisms in the country.The event saw several talks aimed at bringing more people within the fold of mediation through online conversations, and highlighting the opportunities available for lawyers, law students, engineers, enterprises and state authorities for the same. "We believe in continuous improvement to ensure that ODR is strategically resilient for whatever the future brings, the Pandemic has taught us that ODR is a successful tool. ODR ensures access to justice for all," Ashok Jain said in his opening address. ASG Nargund said, "Alternative Dispute resolution system has its roots in India in the form of Panchayat system. I was amazed by the system of E-Adalats developed by SAMA and how they resolved 2 lakh cases in a year."Other speakers included Group General Counsel of ICICI Bank Pramod Rao, Bhopal Principal District Judge Giribala Singh, and Joint-Secretary in the Union Department of Justice GR Raghavender..The Indian Mediation Week is an annual awareness campaign to promote mediation as an accessible alternative to going to court. SAMA stated that to "ease the growing burden on India's judiciary, mediation is an accessible alternative whose awareness remains critically low." The events seeks to address this gap in awareness, apart from acknowledging and recognising the efforts of those "contributing to the access-to-justice movement". 2,400 ADR awareness drives were held across 102 cities in India, since the event's inception..Read our coverage of developments in mediation here..The Draft Mediation Bill: A timely intervention.Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.