Mediation a Sleeping Giant, K.Sathyan

KOCHI:
Mediation a sleeping giant, says K.Sathyan, District Judge and Member Secretary remarked while delivering the keynote address of CPPR Commercial Dispute Resolution Workshop Certified Training Workshop On Commercial Dispute Resolution organized by the Centre for Public Policy Research.
K. Sathyan, Member Secretary and District Judge, Kerala Legal Service Authority and Aneish Rajan, Deputy Commissioner, Customs; presided over the inaugural function of the two-day workshop on “Commercial Dispute Resolution”.
The workshop was organized by Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Kochi and its dispute resolution wing ADR Centre, supported by the British Deputy High Commission, Chennai. CPPR, a think tank based in Kochi with an office in Delhi has been working in this area as part of its initiatives in Ease of Doing Business. Experienced trainers Paul Randolph (Barrister/Mediator at Field Court Chambers, United Kingdom) and Spenser Hilliard (Mediator at Field Court Chambers, United Kingdom) are the faculties for the sessions.
This was the third and final leg of the workshop aimed at developing resource pool on commercial dispute resolution (Mediation and Arbitration) in India. The previous editions were held in Bengaluru (January 20-21) and Chennai (Jan 23-24) and attended by judicial officers, legal heads, entrepreneurs and practitioners. This programme will end on Tuesday 31st January with a valedictory session presided by Justice Muhammed Mustaque, High Court of Kerala.
Professor K.C Abraham, Director (Centre for Public Policy Research) welcomed the audience and stressed on need to build credible institutions within India, facilitating better Dispute Resolution. Aneish Rajan, Deputy Commissioner, Customs, Kochi inaugurated the event .He stated that there were about 3 crore disputes as of 2016 that were still pending in the courts. 60% of the cases are pending in the High Court and most of them are commercial in nature.
K. Sathyan,District Judge and Member Secretary gave the key note address. He mentioned that “Mediation is a sleeping giant” and stressed the need for better dispute resolution and promotion of ADR mechanisms
Mediation however is viewed as a conspicuous disadvantage for the courts; because courts can only adjudicate the disputes.
Mohammed Salu of Junior Chamber International, Kakkanad Cyber City spoke about how a better world; meaning a dispute free-world can be created and achieved.
Paul Randolph (Barrister and Mediator at Field Court Chambers, U. K) in his introduction to the workshop – mentioned that resolving conflicts has not happened very effectively. The reason why conflicts and disputes are not solved peacefully is due to the people’s mind and their perceptions which need to be changed quickly,which isn’t easy.

Lawyers, entrepreneurs and representatives from the Chamber is taking part in the two day workshop which will end on 31st, Tuesday.