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Green Bench gets down to business

Our Bureau

KOLKATA, Aug. 9

THE Council of State Governments (CSG) of the US, in collaboration with the US-AEP (US Asia Environment Partnership), a public-private initiative, has launched a court-annexed mediation-conciliation programme in Chennai, under the aegis of the Madras Hig h Court, to help resolve pending environment cases.

Under the project, a CSG team of experts will be working closely with the Green Bench set up by the High Court for resolving environment-related disputes through the process of mediation-conciliation.

Talking to newspersons here on Wednesday, after participating in a workshop on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods for resolving environment-related disputes, Mr Bert Harberson, Director, National Institute for State Conflict Management, Univers ity of Kentucky, and chief coordinator of the CSG project in Chennai, said a comprehensive programme was being developed for the High Court, under which CSG would be training a core team of mediators for the Green Bench cases. He said the programme was i ntended to correct the lack of technical understanding while dealing with environmental disputes.

Mr Harberson said that as on May 31, 2001, as many as 217 cases were pending before the High Court, and none of the parties to the dispute was willing to volunteer for mediation-conciliation proceedings. Explaining the process, he said once the mediation proceedings reach an effective stage, the Bench would be able to write out an order, which may be construed as the verdict of the High Court. He added that CSG would be preparing a roster of mediators to facilitate the work of the Green Bench. Asked if the programme would be extended to other High Courts in the country, Mr Harberson replied in the affirmative.

He said a dialogue was already on with NGOs, lawyers, trade representatives and other organisations in different States for extending the programme. Some of the other participants in the CSG programme are the US State Department and the University of Ken tucky.

Mr Harberson said the CSG, which represented all the 50 States of the US, has evolved the ADR programme to counter the limitations of the traditional methods of dispute resolution, which rely heavily on the confrontational format. Court action, he felt, always resulted in a win-lose situation, unlike ADR, where parties can achieve a win-win situation. He described ADR methods, through use of a neutral third party, as an adjunct to the court process, and ideally suited for environment disputes.

Dr John D. Stempel, Director, of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky, who also participated in the workshop, said that conflict resolution, especially of matters relating to the environment, through mediat ion-conciliation, was now a global phenomenon.