The projection that the number of cases pending in Indian courts has reached 45 million, which is interpreted as the Indian judiciary's inability to handle the caseload, is an "overstatement," Chief Justice of India N V Ramana stated on Saturday. He also said that "luxurious litigation" is an "uncharitable analysis" and one of the elements contributing to judicial delays.
He stated that conflicts are unavoidable in any society for a variety of reasons, including political, economic, social, cultural, and religious, and that mechanisms for conflict resolution must be developed. He referenced the Mahabharata as an example of an early attempt at mediation as a conflict resolution tool.
Mediation is strongly ingrained in the Indian character, and various forms of mediation were used as a manner of dispute settlement in India prior to the British adversarial system, he said. Justice Ramana claimed many Asian countries have a long and rich heritage of collaborative and peaceful dispute resolution in his keynote talk at the India-Singapore Mediation Summit, "Making Mediation mainstream: Reflections from India and Singapore."
"The great Indian epic, the Mahabharata, actually provides an example of an early attempt at mediation as a conflict resolution tool, where Lord Krishna attempted to mediate the dispute between the Pandavas and Kauravas. It may be worthwhile to recall that the failure of mediation led to disastrous consequences," PTI quoted Justice Ramanna as saying.
He also told an amusing incident about a judge who was sipping his early morning coffee and flicking through the newspaper when his granddaughter came to him and said, "Grandpa, my elder sister took away my toy." "Do you have any evidence?" the judge asked right away.
"There is victory where there is dharma": CJI
Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana remarked on Saturday that the people of India know that when things go wrong, the Supreme Court, as the custodian of the world's largest democracy, will stand by them. The Supreme Court's motto, Yato Dharma Sthato Jaya, was brought to life, according to the Chief Justice, by the Constitution and the people's tremendous faith in the legal system. "That is, there is victory where there is dharma."
