By News Agency of Kashmir,
Jammu : Peeved at the indifference towards implementation of the path-breaking Alternative Dispute Redressal (ADR) mechanism okayed by it and the Centre, the Supreme Court on Thursday Supreme Court of India gave a deadline to Jammu and Kashmir state to either enforce it or face judicial music.
Sources told News Agency of Kashmir that chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir has been asked to file the status report on opening of fully functional mediation and conciliation centres by January 13. In case of the default of the direction, the chief secretary has been asked to appear personally before the Supreme Court, sources added.
Jammu and Kashmir is one of the states on the red list which have not bothered to tell the Apex court about the status of implementation of the apex court’s August 2, 2005 judgment green lighting the ADR mechanism suggested by a committee headed by then Law Commission chairperson Justice Jagannadha Rao.
Reports reaching here revealed that the Supreme Court had on August 20 last year asked all states and Union Territories to file status reports on the implementation, but some are yet to comply with it.
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir is also reportedly in the line of fire. Reports suggests that the Registrar General of the HC has been asked to appear before the apex court on January 13 if necessary amendments to their rules have not yet been effected to facilitate implementation of the ADR mechanism.
The directions were reportedly passed by a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi which expressed anguish over the long delay in implementing the measures aimed at reducing litigational cost and time and in turn taking the burden off the courts. It was observed by the Bench that the top bureaucrats appears to have no time for these suggestions.
“Nobody has time to go through the apex court’s order. That is the problem with this country,” said the Bench after hearing amicus curiae C S Vaidyanathan and K V Vishwanathan.
Beside Jammu and Kashmir, the other states and Union Territories including Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand, Puducherry and Chandigarh are also on the red list.
The Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms has been formed to ease the present burden of judicial functioning. The primary object of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism is to provide cheap, simple, quick and effective remedy.
The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 laid down the minimum standards, which are required for an effective Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism. Further, the recent amendments in the central Act of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 also provides settlement of disputes outside the court.