S.K. Misra Memorial International Mediation And Negotiation Competition 4.0: Valedictory Ceremony

Supreme Court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain of Delhi High Court gave their insights on the advantages of mediation and its role in helping people in creative and convenient manners. Mediation being an alternate dispute resolution mecahnisam has multifaceted advantages such as saving time, expeditious remedy, creative solutions, lessening the burden on courts and several others.

Justice Dhulia shared certain incidents from the times of his practicee in Allahabad where he tried to mediate between the parties but he did not succeed as there was a lot of passion involved in the process. In a unique case there was a fight between a married couple where they were both seeking the custody of their child. The child was staying with his father in the hills and the mother was somewhere in the plains and she filed for the custody but it was not being given tio her and hence an appeal was filed. 

The boy was resultantly asked by the court as to which one of his parents he wants to live with. He boy reluctantly replied that he wishes to live with his father. After that there was a period of lunch given ti the parties and they spent time together in teh market. Afterwards when the parties returned befor ethe court, the mother put forth that she is taking back her case as her son is truly happy here at home with his father.

Such stories give us hope that the maturity of parties and creativity of solutions in mediation can immensely help in establishing mediation as an integrally beneficial process.One should also stick to mediation and not take the litigation forward but such a sense is needed in the client himself.

Justice Dhulia remarked- "There is always a duty in compromise because there are so many pitfalls to an ordinary litigation that a mediation is always welcome. "

Looking at the steller performances by the students Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain of Delhi High Court said that he believes that the future of mediation in our country is in good hands. He emphasized on the drawbacks of litigation due to which it is essential to  switch to mediation and make good use of it. He said that Tomorrow belongs to mediation and not to litigation. We have to mediate not to litigate. Justice Kumar also remarked that Mediation is a democratic way of dispensation of justice, which is coupled with direct communication between the parties, generation of options, exchange of information, understanding the underlying interest of the parties, and anger management, which is totally contrary to the litigation system.   

The next speaker who emphasised further on the issue was Dr. Lalit Bhasin. He explained that what's required is a change in the mindset of our people and that is where the role of law schools comes in. They must try to inculcate in students, this change of mindset from litigation to developing negotiating skills. 

While sharing his wisdom regarding alternate dispute redressal mechanisms Mr. Mohit Saraf (Founder & Managing Partner, Saraf & Partners) said that today in arbitration and litigation, majority of disputes are commercial disputes. Enforceability of contract needs to be improved significantly for mediation to succeed particularly in a commercial dispute because often, commercial parties use litigation as a delay tactics. 

The competition was praised by Mr. Murari Tiwari, Former Chairman, Bar Council of Delhi. he said "Lloyd Law College has earned a good name in CCS University. I have never heard that any law institution had organised this kind of completion and had their students educated on this topic. We have to be very positive. Slowly laws are evolving and rules are also being framed for mediation".

Talking about the initiatives of Lloyd College, Dr. Mohd. Salim, Senior Director & Dean, Lloyd Law College said that since 2003, Lloyd Law College has been striving to create more practice-oriented, profession- oriented, and practical-oriented legal education. Adding onto this, Mr. Manohar Thairani, President, Lloyd Law College said that there is a tremendous backlog of cases in our courts and this hampers the delivery of justice. If alternate dispute resolution methods are used effectively, then they can be a force for the good and our cases can come down significantly.

Finally, at the end of the event, winners in several categories were announced which included:

1. Best Mediation Plan- Ms. Yap En Ling Crisann, Singapore Mangement University

2. Best Negotiation Plan- Imadh Imran and Amaal Miskin, Royal Institute of Colombo

3. Best Opening Statement- Ms. Kashish Oram, National Law Institute University

4. Best Opening Statement (Negotiator)- Rohan Tripathi and Laksh Sharma, Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai

5. Best Team Work Between Client and Counsel- Prashutosh Kumar and Khushi Gandhi , University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES)

6. Best Creative Solution- Imadh Imran and Amaani Miskin, Royal Institute of Colombo

7. Best Relationship Building With Other Teams- Aditya Pandey and Shriballabh Sarthak Pathak, Chanakya National Law University 

8. Best Acknowledgement of Cultural Differences-  Imadh Imran and Amaani Miskin, Royal Institute of Colombo

9. Best Performance (First time performing team)- Shiken Daniel Abeyratne, Imadh Imran and Amaani Miskin, Royal Institute of Colombo

10. Runner Up Negotiation Team- Paritoshika Singh and Ishita Mukherhee, Jindal global Law School

11. Best Negotiating Team- Audrey Loo Wan Yi  and Faith Yeo Chi Yi, Singapore Mangement University

12. Runner Up Mediator- Ms. Sanskruti Makwana, Institute of Law, Nirma University

13. Best Mediator- Sri Madhura Srinivasa, Symbiosis Law School Pune