PROCEDURE FOR CONCILIATION Part 3of the Arbitration and Conciliation act, 1996 speaks about Conciliation, According to Wharton's Law Lexicon, conciliation is non-adjudicatary alternative dispute resolution process which is governed by the conditions of the Arbitration snd Conciliation act, 1996 (25 of 1996). Step 1: Commencement of contiliation proceedings. Section 62 of the act talks about the commencement of the proceedings. In order for the conciliation proceedings either one of the parties shauid send a written invitation to the other party. Only if the other party accepts the invitation they shall go ahead with the conciliation proceedings. f the party does not get a reply even after 30 days of sending the invitation, it shall be considered that the invitation is not accepted. Step 2: Appointment of conciliators After the parties have agreed for the conciliation proceedings, the next step is to appoint an arbitrator. Section 64 talks about the appointment of arbitrators. If the parties agree they can appoint a sole conciliator. f the parties agree upon appointing two conciliators, each party shall appoint one conciliator each. In case the parties agree upon three conciliator, each party shall appoint one conciliator each and the parties together may agree upon a third conciliator, who shall be the presiding coneilistor. Step 3: Submission of written statement to the cont The conciliator may request each of the parties to provide witha written statement about the facts relating to the case inthand. tt conciliator. Along with the conciliator, the parties are also requested to send the written statement to necessary for both the parties to submit a written statement to the each ather. ‘Step 4: Conduct of the conciliation proceedings Sections 67(3) and 69(1) talks about the conduct of conciliation proceedings. The coneiliator may decide to talk ta the parties through written or oral communication. He may also decide to meet the parties together or separately. He may conduct the proceedings which seem to be suitable to the case in hand,Section 68 of the act talks about the administrative assistance. The parties or the conciliator may seek ‘administrative assistance from an institution or a person if required. in order for seeking for administrative assistance, the consent of the parties are required. itment and. tions Conciliator can be appointed by the parties themselves af their own choice with consensus i.e. bath tor. IDRC has a Panel af Conciliators with rich should agree upon the appointment of the conci experience in varied fields. ‘The parties follow any of the following methods. (a) The parties themselves may name a conciliator or concilfatars from IDRC Panel. (b) Each party may appoint one conciliator from IDRC Panel & may mutually agree on the third conciliator. (C) The parties may enlist the assistance of a suitable institution je IDRC in connection with the appointment of conciliators. In the case of family court, or labour caurt etc, before referring the matter to the courtiit is compulsory to consult with the councilor Le. canciliator, who are appointed by the government for making settlement between the parties before the trial & onthe report of the councilor only, matter is put forth for trial Here, Conciliator should not be of a specific qualification, but he should also not be ignorant of the subject matter. He can be a expert person of the subject matter of dispute for eg. if there is a dispute regarding construction cost of a building in that case a person can be a civil engineer, who has the knowledge of building construction. The important thing, which cannat be ignored, is that conciliation is not the person whe will decide the matter; rather heis 3 person who assists the parties to arrive at amicable settlement, where the decision is of the parties themselves. -SHAURYA PANDEY