The Legal Education - Law Commission of India

63years, the number of civil matters settled at the stage before trial, has risento nearly 90% and only 10% of cases are going for trial.6.3 Recently, the Supreme Court had occasion to deal with the utility ofADR systems and we shall refer to the said judgment in Salem AdvocateBar Assn. v. Union of India, 2002 (8) SCALE 146. Speaking for theBench, after referring to sec. 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure, Kirpal CJobserved as follows: (see para 9 to 12)“It is quite obvious that the reason why sec. 89 has been inserted isto try and see that all the cases which are filed in court need notnecessarily be decided by the court itself. Keeping in mind, the lawsdelays and the limited number of Judges which are available, it hasnow become imperative that resort should be had to AlternativeDispute Resolution Mechanism with a view to bring an end litigationbetween the parties at an early date. The Alternative DisputeResolution (ADR) Mechanism as contemplated by sec. 89 isarbitration or conciliation or judicial settlement including settlementthrough Lok Adalat or mediation. Subsection (2) of sec. 89 refers todifferent Acts in relation to arbitration, conciliation or settlementthrough Lok Adalat, but with regard to mediation, sec. 89(2)(d)provides that the parties shall follow the procedure as may beprescribed. Sec. 89(2)(d), therefore, contemplates appropriate rulesbeing framed with regard to mediation.In certain countries of the world where ADR has been successful, tothe extent of over 90 per cent of the cases are settled out of court,