Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Shah urges business community to go in for alternative dispute resolution

— Photo: K. Ganesan

VALUABLE ADVICE: A.P.Shah, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, addressing the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Madurai on Saturday. (From right) E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, MP; D. Murugesan, judge, Madras High Court; S. Rethinavelu, president, TNCCI; and AR. Lakshmanan, Chairman, Law Commission of India, are in the picture.

MADURAI: Court proceedings do not offer a satisfactory method of settlement of commercial disputes as they involve inevitable delay, costs and technicalities, said Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Ajit Prakash Shah on Saturday.

Inaugurating an in-house arbitration tribunal and mediation centre at the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TNCCI) here, he said: “The entire business community should be driven by the motto of avoiding litigation, which is fruitless.”

On the other hand, businessmen could resort to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as arbitration, mediation and conciliation because they provided economic, expeditious and informal remedies for settling commercial disputes.

Mr. Justice Shah cautioned the legal fraternity against introducing the culture of seeking adjournments in arbitration proceedings too, as it would defeat the objective of ensuring cost effective and speedy resolution of disputes. Indian arbitrators should be committed professionals and adopt the procedures followed by the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce based in Paris.

He insisted on institutionalisation of arbitration along the lines suggested by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its ninth report on the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2003 laid on the table of Lok Sabha on August 4, 2005. In his address, Law Commission of India Chairman A.R. Lakshmanan urged the Tamil Nadu Government to establish a State law commission.

Stressing that every State should have a commission, he pointed out that Kerala established one recently pursuant to a call given by him.

Madras High Court Judge D. Murugesan said the compromise reached at mediation centres should be given the status of a court decree as it would help in gaining people’s confidence. E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, said it had recommended the setting up of an Indian Arbitration Commission presided over by the Chief Justice of India to grant accreditation to professional institutions, which came forward to render services in institutional arbitration. Such institutions would, in turn, frame rules governing appointment, fees and conduct of arbitrators. TNCCI president S. Rethinavelu said that the Chamber Arbitration Tribunal (ChAT) and the mediation centre had been established under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

The traders need to include a clause, agreeing to resolve their disputes through ChAT.

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