Acting Chief Justice for arbitration to sort out legal wrangles

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh High Court Acting Chief Justice C Praveen Kumar appealed to people to opt for alternative dispute resolution which is friendlier towards the litigants. He inaugurated a two-day workshop for the engineers of the Roads and Buildings department at the AP State Heads of Departments Building here on Tuesday.

The Acting Chief Justice said that arbitration is also one of the methods like Lok Adalat by the Legal Service Authority. However, in the arbitration method, the litigants could choose their own arbitrator and choose their own place and the arbitrator's fee is also fixed.

He said that in arbitration time limits will be set for appointment of arbitrator, for the rendering of award by the arbitral tribunal and also sets limits for adjournments. Moreover, the scope for interference by the higher courts is reduced, he pointed out. He hoped that people would use this forum to their advantage.

Earlier, welcoming the Acting Chief Justice, JLN Murthy, secretary of the regional centre of the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR), said that the two-day workshop was aimed at sensitising the engineers on the basic concepts of ADR methods such as arbitration and its recent amendments and also the benefits of ADR methods compared to traditional court litigation.

He said that the engineers should be well acquainted with the latest developments and techniques in arbitration. He said that the Union Cabinet recently cleared further amendments to Arbitration by proposing Arbitration and Conciliation Amendment Bill 2019 which would help if enacted to form Arbitration Council of India along with other provisions.

Y Rajeev Reddy, Engineer-in-Chief of Roads and Buildings department and T Srinivas, Project Director of National Highway Authority of India, were also present.