Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Speedy settlement of civil disputes

HYDERABAD: With a view to easing the burden on regular courts and pave the way for early/speedy settlement of civil disputes, the AP Legal Services Authority has set up eight mediation centres in eight districts.

The districts are East Godavari, Guntur, Kadapa, Karimnagar, Visakhapatnam, Warangal, Ranga Reddy and Chittoor (at Tirupati). Three more in Krishna (at Vijayawada), Hyderabad and the A.P. High Court are to be established in the next ten days, D. Subramanyam, secretary, AP High Court Legal Services Committee, told The Hindu.

Explaining the concept of the mediation centres, he said Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code provided for referral of any civil dispute between two parties for mediation/arbitration/judicial settlement/Lok Adalat if the court felt that there existed a scope for settlement.

Although rules are yet to be implemented, since the eight centres have been established during the last one month, the parties involved in a dispute have to pay mediation fee, following reference by any court in the State.

The designated coordinator of the centre would allot the case for mediation. The secretary of the district-level legal services authority will be the coordinator, who will be acting under the directions of the district judge. The mediator takes up the dispute and if the parties involved agree to a settlement, he/she will prepare the agreement and hand it over to the coordinator, who in turn will send it to the court, which has referred the dispute for mediation. The court will then pass the final agreement.

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