Karnataka - Bangalore   

Mediation week in State

BANGALORE: The High Court of Karnataka, along with the Bangalore Mediation Centre (BMC) and the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) is organising a mediation week in the State from February 3.

Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph and five High Court judges who are on the Board of Governors of the BMC, told presspersons here on Saturday that seminars and workshops on mediation would be conducted in all districts as part of the mediation week.

The five judges on the board of governors — Justices S.R. Bannurnmath, V. Gopala Gowda, Manjula Chellur, Mohan Shantangouder and District Judge Keshava Narayan, would each visit one district on February 8 to spread the message of mediation and to participate in mediation-based programmes.

Mr. Cyriac Joseph said with the success of the BMC, the High Court had decided to extend from this year the mediation process to all other districts. Mediation centres initially would be located either in court buildings in districts or in the premises of the district legal services authority.

The BMC and the Karnataka Judicial Academy, he said, would train judicial officials from the district in the art of mediation. Such training is essential as the judicial officers would know which cases could be referred to mediation.

Pointing out that the concept of mediation is not new to India, the Chief Justice said disputes in earlier times were solved by the panchayat. The west, particularly the United States, had imported this system and after refining it had exported it back to India. He said mediation could not only help reduce the pendency of cases but also reconcile as friends parties in a dispute. As of Friday, the BMC had settled 1,106 cases. Of them, settlement of divorce cases constituted the largest percentage of cases which were successfully mediated. Of the 222 such cases, 154 were settled. In all, the BMC’s success rate of cases being settled stood at 54 per cent.

He said the High Court till date has trained 86 mediators, including two judicial officers. The BMC located at Siddaiah Road, he said, is one of the best equipped of its kind in the country and it has 13 mediation rooms, in addition to conference halls and a lounge for clients.

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