India is going through technological transformation rapidly. This can also be seen in our Judicial System, which is leading the Supreme Court in innovative ways. The Government is also looking to strengthen the ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) as well as ODR (Online Dispute Resolution) systems. This will hopefully lead to a lessened burden on our courts, and they will be able to concentrate on the more complex and crucial cases.
With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the judicial system has witnessed a complete transformation in the functioning of court proceedings. This adoption of technology may be one of the most progressive developments in the history of the Indian judicial system. It will not only widen the equity but also the affordability of the system.
CJI SA Bobde highlighted the significance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the judicial domain, as it will positively affect the efficiency of courts in the non-decision-making aspects. Justice DY Chandrachud introduced the system of e-filing under the eCourts Project, which will revolutionise the judicial functioning in India.
The pandemic has recapitulated the importance of technology in allowing contactless support to daily work roles and has provided an opportunity for people to access affordable justice. In today's data-driven world, there is much more to ODR than just being the online form of ADR. However, there is no doubt that even before the pandemic, there was a realisation that a country as transient as India, needs such a system to ensure better access to justice as well as some extent of relaxation to courts from the endless burden on them.
Other than making courts digitized and more efficient, there is more work to be done in the direction of formulating collaborative mechanisms of dispute resolution that do not need the physical appearance of parties of the dispute. There is a need for such a mechanism through which small and medium matters get resolved without the parties having to approach courts, thereby allowing courts to focus on complex cases that may be crucial to the larger public interest.
Take, for example, the mechanism set up by the Hong Kong Government in April 2020, called the "COVID-19 Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Scheme", which aims to provide speedy and cost-effective means to resolve disputes relating to COVID-19, especially those involving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). It aims to provide remote and online access to a multi-tiered dispute resolution system, which is also time-bound, in the sense that one case will only be given a certain fixed period of time in which it has to be resolved, hence creating a positive tension in the system, leading to increased efficiency. This scheme has even been made affordable to the people who wish to approach it, with a registration fee of HK$200 (equal to nearly Rs. 2000) for each case.
Therefore, the development of a strong and vigorous ODR system would result in a creative and technology-driven solution, based on the principles of ADR, yet not limited to it. This would significantly lessen the burden that exists not only on courts but also on the people who help in their functioning, including lawyers, judges and other legal and non-legal service providers. Not only this, but an ODR system will also facilitate increased access to justice. It will result in an ease of doing business by making dispute resolution more affordable, less time-consuming, and most importantly, equally credible as conventional methods of resolution. What is now vital is that the stakeholders of the judicial system come together and take steps to develop such a system by removing any barriers that may exist, and initiate the formation such a revolutionary system.
