Law Commission of India

International  Conference on ADR and Case Management

New Delhi, May 3 - 4, 2003

 

 

 

 

                The Law Commission of India, chaired by Justice M. Jagannadha Rao, will present an international conference on Indian ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution), including mediation and case management, on May 3 - 4, 2003. The international conference will be the most significant event undertaken to implement long-needed reforms to reduce the substantial backlog and delay in the civil justice process. Among the 150 conference attendees will be all of India’s legal opinion leaders, including the Indian Supreme Court, the Chief Justices of all 22 State High Courts, the Presidents of the High Court Bar Associations, and the heads of the Bar Councils in each state. The Conference is proposed to be conducted in collaboration with the Institute for the Study and Development of Legal Systems (ISDLS) a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization based in SanFrancisco California U.S.A  url http://www.isdls.org/the_institute.html. The Institute conducts international legal reform and exchange projects in collaboration with foreign governments and legal professionals and is comprised of approximately eighty leading legal professionals in the state of California, including federal and state judges, prosecutors and public defenders; private civil and criminal attorneys; city attorneys; court administrators; private and court-appointed mediators and arbitrators; law professors; directors of judicial education and performance centers and committees; directors of law enforcement oversight bodies; law enforcement officers and trainers; journalists and others. The ISDLS will present the American experience in the development and implementation of new mediation and case management procedures at the International conference. 

 

 

Conference Structure

 

2. The conference will be attended by approximately 150 judicial officers and leading legal professionals, representing the Subordinate Courts and every High Court  in India. The conference will take place over two days on May 3 - 4, 2003 with two sessions each day. 

 

 

The four sessions will cover: 

 

(1)   An assessment of backlog and delay in the Indian courts;

 

(2)   The success of mediation and case management in the U.S.;

 

(3)   Strategies for implementation of mediation and case management under section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure; and

(4)   Commentary on the draft rules circulated by the law commission, and planning for next steps (e.g., reporting, regional conferences, training programs, etc.).

 

3. The Conference is the result of the visit of the Judges of the Indian Supreme Court to U,.S in October 2002,  during which they interacted with the members of the US Supreme Court and ISDLS on the  upcoming Indian reform implementation process. Through this exchange, members of the US Supreme Court expressed their support for and offered a high-level international exposure to the developments in the Indian reform effort.

 

4. Watch this space for more details