Online Dispute Resolution - An attempt to dismantle Chaos | NHAI

Sidelining justice for the sake of development will create untoward consequences in the society.
However, the development is what drives the progress of the society. To ensure both, there
should be a robust judicial system in the country. In India, the judiciary system is running out of
capacity given the number of cases. That’s one of the reasons why justice is lagging behind time
and dragging the development. And, Justice delayed is justice denied. In the light of this
situation, the Government of India (GOI) has come up with an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)
portal. The minister of state for HRD launched the ODR portal.

This portal has the potential to change the way the legal rights are exercised by the citizens of
India. The disputing parties can file their case and check the status of their cases. The arbitrators
can access different court orders and verdicts, which many times act as a reference while
delivering justice to the needy at a faster pace. Even the judicial hearings can be done via this
portal’s video conferencing facility. So, this portal can unclog the judicial system thus
reinforcing the confidence in the judicial system.

This portal is one of the initiatives that are undertaken by the Government of India under its
ambitious “Digital India” program. The Ministry of Law and Justice was assigned to oversee the
development of ODR portal. The Ministry delegated the development of ODR portal to
Construction Industry Arbitration Council (CIAC).

CIAC, an independent and non-profit body, is a joint venture by Construction Industry

Development Council (CIDC) and Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) and was
established under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

A committee under the leadership of Mr Arijit Pasayat, Retired Judge was set up to come up with
suggestions pertaining to the operation of ODR portal. Mr Akhilesh Srivastava, CGM (Highway
operations & IT) NHAI and Dr P.R.Swarup, Director General, CIDC are members of that
committee. This committee came up with suggestions for Infusing Tech-savvy professionals and
training them as arbitral assistants. These suggestions, if implemented, open doors to the youth
of India to collaborate with the judicial system and resolve dispute-laden cases.

The scale of ODR is yet is to be realized and the benefits of ODR are waiting to clear the gaps in
the judicial system. The ODR is one such example which reflects the government’s commitment
towards creating an ecosystem where development and justice coexists.

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