Alternative Dispute Redressal Centre to make dispute resolution more people friendly

GANGTOK, 06 Mar: The foundation stone of Alternative Dispute Redressal Centre for East Sikkim was laid by the Judge of Supreme Court of India, Justice DK Jain here at District Court premises this morning. Justice Jain was also accompanied by the Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court, Justice Permod Kohli and the Judge of Sikkim High Court, Justice SP Wangdi.
Alternative Dispute Redressal System is a system which aims at making the process of dispute resolution more people friendly, fair and equitable for all the parties involved.
Later, booklet on ‘Lessons in Law’ was launched and an awareness programme on ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution and its Role in Dispensation of Justice’ was held in a function organized by the Sikkim State Legal Services Authority [SSLSA] at Chintan Bhawan.
On the occasion, the Supreme Court Judge, Justice Jain launched the booklet ‘Lessons in Law’ for Class XI, while the booklet ‘Lessons in Law’ for Class IX was launched by the Chief Justice, Justice Kohli.
The book aims at generating awareness amongst senior students as they are the future of the community and the country as legal literacy and legal awareness is vital in educating people about their privileges as well as responsibilities under the law. The book seeks to enable students to understand the constitutional objectives and the principles of the rule of law of the country.
In his address, Justice Jain mentioned that people always think and talk about their rights but forget obligations and duties towards others, institutions and the society. Speaking to the students, Justice Jain stressed that they must exercise their legal rights and should try to give back to the society what it demands of them. Encouraging the students, he said that if they have the basic knowledge of legal rights then it would make a lot of difference in their life style and perspective towards any field.
Justice Jain also appreciated the simple language used in the book. He expressed that the book will enlighten students on their rights and positively affect their views on legal rights. He expressed his hope that the book would also encourage some students to study law later on.
On the Alternative Dispute Redressal mechanism, Justice Jain stated that the underlying idea was to create peaceful society and harmony in the state. He also urged the judicial fraternity to come forward with their valuable service to the people in this mechanism.
Addressing the function, Justice Kohli, who is also the Patron-in-Chief of Sikkim State Legal Services Authority [SSLSA], expressed that children are the future so it was necessary for them to know about law. He added that this book on law would help educate students on law and legal rights.
He added that with the change in the socio-economic status and with the passage of time many new challenges have emerged and to deal with these new laws were enacted for the development of the society and even the burden on the court has been increasing day-by-day. Keeping all these aspects in mind the thinkers, law makers and the apex court have consistently made efforts to face these new challenges.
Justice Kohli added that the idea of the ADR mechanism is one such effort to ease the burden of the court and its purpose was not to make the court irrelevant.  This mechanism is also equally effective and in some cases more effective, it is cheap, less time consuming and with no possibility of appeals it seeks to create a lawful society, he further added.
The function started with the welcome address by Justice Wangdi, who is also the SSLSA Executive Chairman, and ended with the vote of thanks by District and Sessions Judge, KC Barfungpa, who is also the SSLSA Member Secretary.
The function was also attended by HRDD Minister, NK Pradhan, Power Minister, SG Lepcha, members of legal fraternity and students.