ADR- A FORM OF PRIVATIZED JUSTICE

ABSTRACT

Submitted by- Divya Sharma (35)

Drishti Tiwari (36)

The use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options to resolve civil disputes has been
growing rapidly, at both national and international platforms. Past few decades have seen an
immensely massive growth not only in the use of ADR but the types of ADR –in addition to
arbitration, options such as mediation, expert determination, early neutral evaluation have
been put into increased used. Development is dynamic, including for example, variations
such as Arb-Med. This development of dispute resolution options has much to commend it. It
gives parties an option to choose between settle their dispute in a cost effective and timely
way, selecting a process that best suits their needs or in a lengthy trial at the courtroom. This
level of autonomy can give the parties to the dispute a high level of control to customise
details of the dispute in terms of issues considered, documents used and so on. An unbiased
neutral party plays a crucial role in the processes of ADR. A problem solving approach can
provide a better outcome than the distraction and stress of months of preparing for trial.
Privatisation of justice by adopting the means of Alternative Dispute Resolution has caused
many questions to be raised, despite providing a better system of providing remedy to the
aggrieved. The core proposition is that we are at a significant crossroads in relation to the
delivery of civil justice, and we need to take care to avoid an adversarial approach in arguing
about whether litigation or ADR is inherently “best”. The purpose of this paper is to review
whether the contractual basis for ADR leads to party autonomy or privatization of justice.
According to the author, this concern is important since party autonomy, which is a manifest
feature of ADR process, is the biggest reason to switch to "Alternate" mechanisms but
simultaneously, if such autonomy leads to privatization of justice, the problem has to be
remedied by drawing a line in ADR processes which equally serves the interest of justice and
rule of law.

Keywords- Privatization, legitimization, arbitration, validity