To All Members of Andhra Chamber

Dear Sir/Ma’am

Sub: Interactive Session on Mediation Bill – 4:30 pm, 13^th October 2023 @ Dr V L Dutt Hall, Andhra Chamber premises

• The Courts in India are clogged with all kinds of cases both criminal and civil. Civil cases are mostly relating to disputes relating to commercial agreements, property etc. It is now a global phenomenon to encourage Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) as a mechanism to resolve various kinds of civil disputes. Arbitration and Mediation are the tools of ADR.
• Keeping in mind the international standards, the Government on India drafted Mediation Bill which will go a long way in resolving civil disputes mostly relating to Commercial in nature like carriage of goods, construction and infrastructure contracts, franchising agreements, management and consultancy agreements etc. Mediation, after taking its right place, will help a long way in reducing the cost of agitating and de-clogging the court in terms of number of cases.
• The constant complaint with respect to court procedure, is that it is time consuming. Cases are fought over many years and cost is also prohibitive. SMEs and ordinary citizens are feeling the pinch of above factors leading to shying away from Courts, thereby forgoing their basic rights. In effect, SMEs are falling prey to whims and fancies of their Customers, who are mostly bigger companies having money power and appetite to drag the smaller units to Courts.

In this regard, the Chamber is organizing an Interactive Session with Mr D.R Sivakumar, Co-founder – Centre for International Mediation Organization, who has kindly consented to give a lecture on the draft Mediation Bill.