Alternative to Litigations in India

An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The administration of justice is the primary task of the judiciary, being one of the essential organs of the State. The courts in India have emerged as a vital institution in interpreting the Constitution of India and thereby assuring justice to the common person. However, in recent times, citizens have become more conscious about their rights. They frequently resort to redress through courts of law through litigation when their rights are infringed, resulting in a “Litigation Explosion” across various courts in the country.

Moreover, lack of optimum human resources in courts and procedural technicalities increase the pendency of cases, and litigants have to wait long to seek justice from the courts. However, because of the complexities of modern lifestyle, disputants want a decision as quickly as possible. In this context, the mechanisms for amicable settlement of disputes such as arbitration, conciliation, mediation, negotiation and institutions like Lok-Adalats have been set up to provide rapid, effective and cheap remedies that can be made available to the people along with the formal adjudicatory system. Although the legal system in India has been devised to provide an alternative to the formal methods of adjudication, it is not an alternative Court or adjudicatory system. It is something which is an alternative to the Court procedure. Against this backdrop, an attempt has been made to analyse the utility and advantages of ADR methods in resolving civil disputes instead of a formal litigation system. The paper is based on an empirical study carried in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.