New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) To provide speedy justice and reduce backlog of pending cases in city courts, the Delhi government Tuesday decided to open mediation centres across the national capital.
“In order to provide speedy justice economically and reduce backlog of pending cases in the courts, it has been decided to get registered Delhi Disputes Resolution society to pave the way for creation of a number of mediation centres in different parts of the city,” Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said after the cabinet meeting here.

Initially four mediation centres will start functioning.

“In all, 11 consumer affairs mediation centres, four cheques dishonour mediation centres and four community mediation centres will come up. Services of the retired judges will be utilised at reasonable amount of remuneration per sitting. Apart from this, services of reputed advocates will also be requisitioned,” Dikshit said.

“The government is committed to establishing mediation centre in each district with requisite infrastructure. These centres would help parties resolve their disputes amicably, economically and quickly, clear backlog of cases from the courts and save cost of litigation,” an official statement said here.

“The focus will primarily be on the pre-litigation disputes. However, the post-litigation cases will also be targeted simultaneously,” it added.

Pre-litigation disputes would include schools, hospitals and employment-related malpractices, workplace problems, property, harassment, noise, pets problems, water issues, property damages, money issues, cases of consumer affairs, accidental compensation cases and others.

The post-litigation cases would include cases in consumer courts, dishonoured cheques, family disputes, land-related cases, motor accident compensation cases and cases by or against government.