CJI :Thinking of setting up commercial courts

Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia on Saturday said setting up of commercial courts to achieve quick disposal of cases is being considered as other judges of the apex court favoured promotion of alternative dispute resolution mechanism to reduce the burden on courts. Speaking at a seminar on mediation, Justice Kapadia blamed lack of settlement culture in the country for the rise in pendency of cases and people not preferring out-of-court resolution of disputes. "We are thinking of setting up commercial courts," he said. Speaking about huge arrears of cases in courts, Justice Kapadia said "in India we, do not have a settlement culture. People are not picking settlement culture (in India). Mediation and arbitration as a mode of dispute settlement is popular and successful in other countries," he said. "We must understand the value of time. This is one of the areas we need to focus on how to promote that culture," he said. Other Supreme Court judges at the conference also expressed similar views and emphasised the need to promote alternative dispute resolution mechanism to reduce the pressue on courts. "Nobody can be blamed for the load of work we have. But we have to find a solution to get out of this mess," Justice Altamas Kabir, the senior-most judge, said.
"It has become difficult to pay attention to the cases which deserve attention because of increasing number of cases. Space is to be created in courts to deal with cases which cannot be resolved through mediation like criminal, election and administrative cases," Justice R V Raveendran said. "We need to have space to focus on important cases," he said.