Mediation in Focus : Roundtable Discussion with Hon’ble Ms. Justice Hima Kohli
On 19th December 2023, the International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC), Hyderabad organized a round table discussion on the topic, “Mediation in focus” with Hon’ble Justice Ms. Hima Kohli as the Chief Guest, along with Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) P. Naveen Rao and Ms. Neelu Kohli. The round table included distinguished judges, senior advocates, law firm partners, esteemed members of the legal fraternity, members of RERA, CREDAI and other stakeholders.
At the outset, Hon’ble Justice Kohli announced the IAMC Annual Report 2022-23 and commended the efforts of IAMC. She reminisced her time at the 40- hour mediation workshop organised by IAMC and shared that it has been a beautiful journey of intellectual and personal development relevant for every advocate and judge. She remarked that “Practising
confidentiality and honesty as a basic ethic in mediation is imperative for building confidence of the parties.” Hon’ble Justice Kohli sharing her own experience, mentioned that she witnessed mediation grow into one of the most resorted sought after dispute resolution processes and is confident that the Mediation Act and institutional mediation can foster and preserve interests of the people. She also emphasised that judicial academies should play an important role in training judicial officers on the need for reference to mediation.
Ms. Neelu Kohli, then advocated the harmonisation of mediation and meditation and mentioned that this leads to creative outputs beyond emotional constraints in the mediation process.
Senior Advocate, Mr. Krishna Grandhi then kickstarted the discussion and gave his opening remarks. He emphasised the need to recognise mediation to its full potential. Influenced by Laurette Amartya Sen’s idea of Neeti being the institutional justice and Nyaya as the natural justice, he expressed concerns over how complex legal jargon often distances the common man from justice and that as lawyers and judges we have unconsciously pushed litigants into the systemic pressures of Neeti. Mr. Grandhi is confident that the advent of the Mediation Act would bring back the power into the hands of the people and Nyaya would be more accessible to the common man.
Amongst other things, the esteemed members of the round table expressed their concerns over the need for mediation advocacy training among young aspirants. The discussion was centered around the fundamental advantages of private institutional mediation as opposed to court annexed mediation. The need for initiating school level mediation was also emphasised. It was also discussed that one should not limit themselves to 40-hour training, and must keep on training themselves to understand the nuances of mediation in depth.
Hon’ble Justice Naveen Rao presenting the closing remarks expressed that mediation advocacy is very much necessary and that awareness of mediation must be extended to non-law students including medicine and other sectors. He emphasised that mediators should be informed about the importance of ethics and confidentiality, and that the training should be more focused on online dispute resolution mechanism. He is confident that Mediation is the next big thing in the dispute resolution process. On this note, he also mentioned that IAMC will be inviting mediation empanelment applications, and encouraged the audience to take up this opportunity.
