Mediation Centre Inaugurated at Orissa High Court

Cuttack: A meditation center has been inaugurated at in the second floor of Aain Seva Bhawan of the Orissa High Court here on Saturday.

The establishment of state-of-the-art mediation centre will go a long way in fulfilling the objective behind Alternative Dispute Redressal Mechanism.

The inaugural ceremony was held in the Gatikrushna Misra Auditorium of Odisha Judicial Academy.

The event was organised by the High Court and Odisha State Legal Services Authority.

Justice Jaswant Singh, Judge, High Court of Orissa and Executive Chairman, Odisha State Legal Services Authority & Chairman, Odisha Judicial Academy delivered the welcome address and focused on the need of training of mediators.

Justice A. M. Khanwilkar, Judge, Supreme Court of India and Chairman, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee graced the inaugural ceremony as the Chief Guest and delivered the keynote address. Justice A. S. Boppana, Judge, Supreme Court of India also graced the function as the guest of honour and addressed the gathering. Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa and Judges of High Court of Orissa were present on the occasion. Advocate General, the President, Vice-President & Secretary of Orissa High Court Bar Association, Judicial Officers, Designated Senior Advocates, Government Officials and Participants/Advocate-Trainee-Mediators attended the event. Justice A. M. Khanwilkar stressed on the effectiveness of mediation in the Alternative Dispute Redressal Mechanism and told that through mediation holistic justice could be done to the litigants. Remembering the words of Justice Krishna Iyer, Justice A. S. Bopanna, Judge, Supreme Court of India said that negotiated settlement through Mediation satisfies the litigants. Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa, who is also the Ex-officio Patron-in-Chief of Odisha State Legal Services Authority & Odisha Judicial Academy told about the need to develop the Mediation system in Odisha. Justice Muralidhar referred to Mahatma Gandhi as an ace Mediator and recounted how the father of the nation settled his first case as Advocate in South Africa through Mediation though he had won the same. He told that the permanent resolution of dispute could not be achieved if one of the parties alone won rather it would be achieved if both of them accepted something that is reasonable. He urged the trainee mediators to take inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi.

Justice C.R. Dash, Judge, High Court of Orissa & Chairman, Orissa High Court Legal Services Committee proposed the vote of thanks.

The inaugural function was followed by the 40 hours Mediation Training Programme.

A.J. Jawad, Senior Trainer from the State of Tamil Nadu and two other Potential Trainers of MCPC namely, Rita Das Mazmudar and Suman Sharma from the State of Assam had joined the training programme as resource persons. As many as 30 advocate-mediators participated in the training.

The dignitaries and participants expressed hope that the establishment of state-of-the-art mediation centre and such training programme would go a long way in fulfilling the objective behind Alternative Dispute Redressal Mechanism.