Lack of settlement culture leading to rise in cases: Chief Justice

New Delhi, July 10 (ANI): Supreme Court Chief Justice S H Kapadia on Saturday said the lack of a settlement culture in the country was responsible for the rise in pending cases and people not preferring out-of-court resolution of disputes.

"In India, we do not have a settlement culture. People are not picking settlement culture in India. Mediation and arbitration as a mode of dispute settlement is popular and successful in other countries," said Chief Justice Kapadia.

"We must understand the value of time. This is one of the areas we need to focus on how to increase that culture," he added speaking at a conference here on mediation.

Justice Kapadia further said that in order to achieve a quick disposal of cases, the judiciary is thinking of setting up commercial courts.

Other apex court judges also expressed similar views and emphasized the need for promoting an alternative dispute resolution mechanism to reduce the burden on the courts.

"Nobody can be blamed for the load of work we have. But we have to find a solution to get out of this mess," said Justice Altamas Kabir.

"It has become difficult to pay attention to the cases which deserve attention because of increasing number of cases. Space is to be created in courts to deal with cases, which cannot be resolved through mediation like criminal, election and administrative cases," said R V Raveendran.

"We need to have space to focus on important cases," he added. (ANI)