New Delhi: Lamenting that an avalanche of cases is putting the judicial system under stress, Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur on Sunday pitched for revisiting legal framework to encourage arbitration and reforms in the existing government-run institution as it has performed “dismally”.
He also lamented that India lacks proper institutions to hold arbitration proceedings, forcing people to approach “five star hotels and clubs” for the purpose.
Referring to government-run International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, he said in its two decades of existence, it has handled only 20 cases which talks of its “dismal performance”.
“Domestic adjudication (of arbitration cases) has a great promise for litigants and overburdened courts...courts are overburdened, judges are overworked...18000 judges handled 50 million cases and disposed of 20 million cases...an avalanche of cases is putting the judicial system under stress,” Justice Thakur said here.
Referring to the epic Mahabharata, he said Lord Krishna tried to mediate between Kaurava and Pandava, but failed. “Even gods can fail in mediation, but that does not mean, it is not successful...those who did not see reason were annihilated,” he said in lighter vein.
