Mediation: Mantra for dispute settlement

Chennai, Mar 14 (UNI) Mediation is becoming the modern-day mantra for resolution of business and personal disputes with both Madras High Court's pioneering Centre for Mediation and Reconciliation and its precursor, the Indian Centre for Mediation (ICM), Chennai, achieving notable success in conflict settlement without recourse to courts.

While the Centre for Mediation, set up in 2005, has successfully solved 50 per cent of the cases taken up by it, the ICM established in 2001 has solved the Standard Motors Case, which was pending in court for 12 years. It was settled through mediation in five months.

The company was closed in 1994. Since then there was a dispute between the management, the 2,196 workers and a number of secured and unsecured creditors over sharing the sale proceeds of company's assets valued at Rs 70 crore.

The dispute continued in court endlessly till the parties agreed for mediation. On 27 September, 2006, a function was held to mark the successful completion of the mediation in the case by the ICM.

The Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Justice A P Shah, disbursed the payments to the workers and the secured creditors. The creditors comprising various financial institutions announced a donation of Rs 30 lakh to the Mediation Centre.

Both workers and creditors requested that mediation should take place in other disputes pertaining to winding up of companies, benefit funds and cases involving outstanding bank loans.

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