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 19
5. The State Legal Services Authority and the High Court Legal Services Committee 25
6. The District Legal Services Authority and the Taluk Legal Services Committee 30
7. Who Is Entitled to Legal Services, and on What Test 35
8. What 'Legal Services' Actually Means, and How a Person Applies for Them 41
9. Paying for It: Grants, the Three Funds, Accounts and Audit 46
10. Lok Adalats: What They Are, and How One Is Organised 50
11. How a Case Reaches a Lok Adalat: Cognizance, Reference and Pre-Litigation Matters 56
12. The Award of a Lok Adalat: A Decree That Cannot Be Appealed 61
13. The Powers of a Lok Adalat, and the Court Fee That Comes Back 68
14. Permanent Lok Adalats: The Forum for Public Utility Services 73
15. How a Permanent Lok Adalat Decides, and Why It May Decide at All 78
16. Para-Legal Training, Legal Literacy and Legal Services Clinics 85
17. Lok Adalats in Practice: National Lok Adalats, Mobile and Continuous Sittings 91
18. The Rest of the Act: Public Servants, Good Faith, Overriding Effect, Rules and Regulations 96

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 102
2. Definitions, and How Far Part I Reaches 107
3. Written Communications, Waiver of the Right to Object, and the Limit on Judicial Intervention 113
4. The Arbitration Agreement: What Makes One, and What Breaks One 118
5. Section 8: When a Court Must Send the Parties to Arbitration 124
6. Arbitrability: What Cannot Be Sent to Arbitration at All 129
7. Section 9: Interim Measures by the Court, Before, During and After 134
8. How Many Arbitrators, and How They Are Appointed 139
9. Independence and Impartiality: The Fifth and Seventh Schedules 145
10. Challenging an Arbitrator, and What Happens When One Cannot Act 152
11. Section 16: The Tribunal Rules on Its Own Jurisdiction 156
12. Section 17: Interim Measures by the Tribunal, and How They Are Enforced 160
13. Conducting the Arbitration: Equal Treatment, Procedure, Place, Commencement and Language 165
14. Pleadings, Hearings, and What Happens When a Party Does Not Turn Up 170
15. Experts Appointed by the Tribunal, and Court Assistance in Taking Evidence 175
16. What Law the Tribunal Applies, and How a Panel Decides 179
17. Time Limits for the Award, and the Fast Track Procedure 184
18. Section 30: Settling During an Arbitration, and the Award on Agreed Terms 189
19. The Arbitral Award: Form, Contents, Reasons, Interest and Costs 194
20. Termination of Proceedings, Correction, Interpretation and Additional Awards 199
21. Section 34: Setting Aside an Award, and What 'Public Policy' Now Means 204
22. Finality and Enforcement: Section 36 and the Automatic Stay That Was Abolished 211
23. Section 37: Which Orders Can Be Appealed, and Which Cannot 216
24. Deposits, Lien, Death, Insolvency, Jurisdiction, Confidentiality and Limitation 220
25. Part IA: The Arbitration Council of India, In Force but Not in Existence 226
26. Part IV: Rules, Repeals, and the Section the Supreme Court Struck Down 231
27. The Schedules: Grounds of Ineligibility, Fees, and the One That Was Deleted 236

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

1. Foreign Awards: Why Part II Has Two Chapters, and What a Convention Does 242
2. New York Convention Awards: Definition, Reference to Arbitration, and When an Award Binds 248
3. Section 48: The Grounds for Refusing a Foreign Award, and the Narrow Public Policy Test 253
4. Enforcing a Foreign Award in India: Procedure, Appeals and Savings 260
5. Geneva Convention Awards: The Older Scheme, and Why It Still Sits in the Act 265
6. Conciliation: What It Is, and How Proceedings Begin 271
7. The Conciliator's Role, and How a Conciliation Is Conducted 276
8. The Settlement Agreement: How It Is Made, and Why It Is as Good as an Award 282
9. Confidentiality, Termination, Costs, and What the Conciliator May Never Do Afterwards 287
10. Mediation: What It Is, and How It Differs from Conciliation and Arbitration 293
11. Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure: How a Court Sends a Case Out to Be Settled 299
12. Pre-Institution Mediation: The One Place Mediation Is Compulsory 306
13. The Mediation Act 2023: The Whole Scheme, and How Much of It Is Actually in Force 311
14. Negotiation: The Skill Underneath Every Other Method 318
15. Counselling: The Lawyer's Duty to Advise Rather Than Litigate 324

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 331
2. The Case Comment: A Worked Example from Start to Finish 336
3. Editing a Law Journal 341
4. Public Interest Litigation: What It Is, and How It Came About 347
5. Researching and Drafting a Public Interest Petition 356
6. Computers and the Internet in Legal Work: Finding the Law 363
7. e-Courts, e-Filing and Virtual Hearings 369
8. Law Office Management: Files, Diary, Accounts and Clients 376
9. Professional Conduct in the Office: What the Rules Allow, and What They Forbid 384