New Delhi, Sep 24: Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Sunday batted for the use of technology in the alternative dispute resolution mechanism and said this route relieves the justice delivery system and people of the burden caused by litigation.
Speaking at the valedictory session of the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) two-day ‘International Lawyers Conference 2023’, the second senior-most judge in the apex court also flagged the issue of mental health and said that awareness about it in the legal fraternity is the “need of the hour”.
Justice Kaul said,”While litigation in courts has always been a sought after option by litigants and lawyers, it makes me happy to see the growing use of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism in nature of arbitration, mediation and conciliation, in which personally I have great faith.”
“The advantages of sitting outside courts outweighs the advantage of litigating a matter, which more often than not goes on for years, leads to immense delay in the justice delivery system, and leaves people antagonistic towards each other,” he said at the function, which was attended by Union ministers Amit Shah and Bhupender Yadav among others.
Justice Kaul appreciated the work of the BCI and termed the two-day programme a great initiative by the organisers.
“Great initiative and my appreciation for what has been endeavoured and done. That the legal fraternity of lawyers think so positively is itself a great beginning. We had two days of invigorating and insightful and intellectual discussions, deliberations and consensus on what the system requires, from all of us to improve it,” he said.
Justice Kaul iterated, “We in India have been trying to make use of technology in the judicial setup. The most noteworthy use of it has been the advent of virtual or e-courts, while the COVID-19 pandemic had its own problems and brought the world to a standstill.” (PTI)
