NITI Aayog to launch Online Dispute Resolution handbook tomorrow

NITI Aayog will launch the first-of-its-kind Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) handbook in India on Saturday, April 10, 2021. ODR is the resolution of disputes outside courts, particularly of small and medium-value cases, using digital technology and techniques of alternate dispute resolution such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.

Supreme Court Judge, Justice DY Chandrachud will deliver the opening address and launch the handbook. Additionally, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, TATA Sons Vice President Poornima Sampath and Sumit Gupta, Head Collections, Udaan, will also be present at the launch.

NITI Aayog in a tweet today said, "Online Dispute Resolution can help resolve disputes efficiently and affordably. Join Justice DY Chandrachud, #NITIAayog CEO @amitabhk87 & OSD @DGCSekhri for the launch of the first-of-its-kind #ODR handbook. Tune in LIVE, tomorrow, 12:30 PM onwards --

This handbook is being launched in association with Agami and Omidyar Network India and with the support of ICICI Bank, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Trilegal, Dalberg, Dvara, NIPFP.

NITI Aayog in a press release said, "This handbook is an invitation to business leaders to adopt ODR in India. It highlights the need for such a mechanism, the models of ODR that businesses can adopt and an actionable pathway for them."

The release from the government think tank said, ODR is the resolution of conflicts that use digital technology and techniques of alternate dispute resolution (ADR) which include negotiation, mediation and arbitration. These disputes are can be particularly of small and medium-value cases.

It said, while courts are becoming digitized through the efforts of the judiciary, more effective, scalable, and collaborative mechanisms of containment and resolution are urgently needed. ODR can help resolve disputes efficiently and affordably.