Alternate Dispute Resolution Notes | B.A. LL.B. (Five Year Course) Semester 7 | Mumbai University | munotes

Contents

Module I Legal services, Lok Adalats and Permanent Lok Adalats (Legal Services Authorities Act 1987)

1. What Alternative Dispute Resolution Is, and Why a Law Student Studies It 1
2. The Right to Free Legal Aid: Article 39A and the Cases That Made It Real 7
3. The Legal Services Authorities Act 1987: Its Shape, Its Commencement and Its Definitions 13
4. The National Legal Services Authority and the Supreme Court Committee 18
5. The State Legal Services Authority and the High Court Legal Services Committee 24
6. The District Legal Services Authority and the Taluk Legal Services Committee 29
7. Who Is Entitled to Legal Services, and on What Test 34
8. What 'Legal Services' Actually Means, and How a Person Applies for Them 40
9. Paying for It: Grants, the Three Funds, Accounts and Audit 45
10. Lok Adalats: What They Are, and How One Is Organised 49
11. How a Case Reaches a Lok Adalat: Cognizance, Reference and Pre-Litigation Matters 55
12. The Award of a Lok Adalat: A Decree That Cannot Be Appealed 60
13. The Powers of a Lok Adalat, and the Court Fee That Comes Back 67
14. Permanent Lok Adalats: The Forum for Public Utility Services 72
15. How a Permanent Lok Adalat Decides, and Why It May Decide at All 77
16. Para-Legal Training, Legal Literacy and Legal Services Clinics 84
17. Lok Adalats in Practice: National Lok Adalats, Mobile and Continuous Sittings 90
18. The Rest of the Act: Public Servants, Good Faith, Overriding Effect, Rules and Regulations 95

Module II The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996: domestic arbitration

1. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996: Where It Came From and How It Is Built 100
2. Definitions, and How Far Part I Reaches 105
3. Written Communications, Waiver of the Right to Object, and the Limit on Judicial Intervention 111
4. The Arbitration Agreement: What Makes One, and What Breaks One 116
5. Section 8: When a Court Must Send the Parties to Arbitration 121
6. Arbitrability: What Cannot Be Sent to Arbitration at All 126
7. Section 9: Interim Measures by the Court, Before, During and After 130
8. How Many Arbitrators, and How They Are Appointed 134
9. Independence and Impartiality: The Fifth and Seventh Schedules 139
10. Challenging an Arbitrator, and What Happens When One Cannot Act 145
11. Section 16: The Tribunal Rules on Its Own Jurisdiction 149
12. Section 17: Interim Measures by the Tribunal, and How They Are Enforced 153
13. Conducting the Arbitration: Equal Treatment, Procedure, Place, Commencement and Language 158
14. Pleadings, Hearings, and What Happens When a Party Does Not Turn Up 163
15. Experts Appointed by the Tribunal, and Court Assistance in Taking Evidence 168
16. What Law the Tribunal Applies, and How a Panel Decides 172
17. Time Limits for the Award, and the Fast Track Procedure 177
18. Section 30: Settling During an Arbitration, and the Award on Agreed Terms 182
19. The Arbitral Award: Form, Contents, Reasons, Interest and Costs 187
20. Termination of Proceedings, Correction, Interpretation and Additional Awards 192
21. Section 34: Setting Aside an Award, and What 'Public Policy' Now Means 197
22. Finality and Enforcement: Section 36 and the Automatic Stay That Was Abolished 204
23. Section 37: Which Orders Can Be Appealed, and Which Cannot 209
24. Deposits, Lien, Death, Insolvency, Jurisdiction, Confidentiality and Limitation 213
25. Part IA: The Arbitration Council of India, In Force but Not in Existence 219
26. Part IV: Rules, Repeals, and the Section the Supreme Court Struck Down 224
27. The Schedules: Grounds of Ineligibility, Fees, and the One That Was Deleted 229

Module III Foreign awards, conciliation, mediation, negotiation and counselling

1. Foreign Awards: Why Part II Has Two Chapters, and What a Convention Does 235
2. New York Convention Awards: Definition, Reference to Arbitration, and When an Award Binds 241
3. Section 48: The Grounds for Refusing a Foreign Award, and the Narrow Public Policy Test 246
4. Enforcing a Foreign Award in India: Procedure, Appeals and Savings 253
5. Geneva Convention Awards: The Older Scheme, and Why It Still Sits in the Act 258
6. Conciliation: What It Is, and How Proceedings Begin 264
7. The Conciliator's Role, and How a Conciliation Is Conducted 269
8. The Settlement Agreement: How It Is Made, and Why It Is as Good as an Award 275
9. Confidentiality, Termination, Costs, and What the Conciliator May Never Do Afterwards 280
10. Mediation: What It Is, and How It Differs from Conciliation and Arbitration 286
11. Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure: How a Court Sends a Case Out to Be Settled 292
12. Pre-Institution Mediation: The One Place Mediation Is Compulsory 298
13. The Mediation Act 2023: The Whole Scheme, and How Much of It Is Actually in Force 303
14. Negotiation: The Skill Underneath Every Other Method 310
15. Counselling: The Lawyer's Duty to Advise Rather Than Litigate 316

Module IV Legal writing, research for public interest litigation, computers in legal work, and law office management

1. Legal Writing: How a Law Article Is Built 323
2. The Case Comment: A Worked Example from Start to Finish 328
3. Editing a Law Journal 333
4. Public Interest Litigation: What It Is, and How It Came About 339
5. Researching and Drafting a Public Interest Petition 348
6. Computers and the Internet in Legal Work: Finding the Law 355
7. e-Courts, e-Filing and Virtual Hearings 361
8. Law Office Management: Files, Diary, Accounts and Clients 368
9. Professional Conduct in the Office: What the Rules Allow, and What They Forbid 376