On 22th May 2020, Former Supreme Court Justice A K Sikri, International Judge, Singapore International Commercial Court inaugurates Indian Dispute Resolution Centre(IDRC), first of its kind Institutional Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR) Centre to provide Offline and e-ADR facility through e-Arbitration, e-Mediation and e-Conciliation software portal.
About e-ADR:
i.The Centre is established by young enthusiasts with a new approach and provides facilities like end-to-end digitisation and a paperless dispute resolution environment.
ii.The Arbitration panel of the centre has former judges of supreme court, high court, district courts, senior advocates, former bureaucrats and others.
iii.The software provides 24×7 facilities for e-filing of claim petitions, e-Payments for registration and administrative fees, issuance of e-notice to the party, virtual hearings on certified VC platforms with options to have virtual meetings in break out rooms when the proceedings are underway.
iv.The e-ADR has digital signature and document updation, replies and other applications and submission on secured IDRC cloud servers with 24×7 access to stakeholders and lawyers.
Discussion on AdHoc v. Institutional Dispute Resolution:
i.The inauguration followed by the panel discussion on AdHoc V. Institutional Dispute Resolution” Ciccu Mukhopadhaya(Senior Advocate), Ratan K Singh(Fellow-CIArb, Director India: Chartered Institute of Arbitrators(CIArb) UK), Samar Abbas Kazmi(Barrister) and Divyansh Hanu Rathi(Managing Partner-Lexidem & Rathi) including Justice Sikri participated in the discussion.
ii.The IDRC Domestic Arbitration Rules provides third party funding disclosure which is accepted across the globe but a developing field in India. Such disclosure on funding can become a challenge in the future.
About IDRC:
Chairperson- Mehar S Rathi
Secretary General- Mona Marwah
Director/Head of Operations- Riya Rathi
Head Office- New Delhi
