By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN 17 Nov: Two day seminar on Alternative Dispute Resolution was inaugurated under the aegis of Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution at Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University. Around 200 participants from reputed universities of the country participated at the seminar. Jonathan Rodrigues and Nishant Laroia experts of reputed institution ‘Protected Area Conservation Trust’ were present as speakers and trainers. The camp was inaugurated by guests with the lighting of auspicious lamps. Stating the concept and rationale of the subject, Principal of the college, Dr. Rajesh Bahuguna maintained that in most of the countries of the world litigants are gravitating towards Alternate Dispute Resolution systems to avoid complexities of the judicial system, expenses and delay in justice. He drew an analogy with a sheep who takes shelter in the hedges to avoid heavy rain only to find after coming from the hedge that its body hair have been entirely shaved. He observed that this is the reason why Arbitration, Mediation, Conciliation and Lok Adalats are getting prominence instead of long-drawn out judicial processes for judicial remedies.
The Seminar emphasized upon developing expertise among the participants in the techniques of alternative dispute resolutions against the established stereo-types. In the first session, Jonathan Rodrigues explained the details related to the alternate dispute resolutions and stated the circumstances in which it becomes successful. He also explained the conditions in which the use of this system should be avoided.
The second session of the seminar was dedicated to mediation. Niashant Laroia explained the traits of an expert mediator and also presented simulated mediations on imaginary issues. The participants asked questions from the experts which were meticulously explained. The participants raised questions as to why litigants should be taken out of the court for mediation to which the experts replied that statistics reveal that lawyers making their career in the field of mediation are gradually increasing in many countries.
Those present on the occasion were Chancellor of the university Jitender Joshi, Vice Chancellor Prof. N. K. Joshi, Dr. Rajesh Bahuguna, Dr. Vijay Srivastava, Kumar Ashutosh, Prabha Lama, Dr. Sushim Shukla, Sukhwinder Singh, Ujjwal Kumar, Shashank Tyagi and hundreds of students.
