Choose mediation to resolve disputes, says Acting CJ

Kathmandu, Sept. 24: Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Dipak Raj Joshi Sunday said that the business community should go for mediation rather than filing case in the court in order to resolve business disputes and breach of contract. 

“Resolving the business disputes and misunderstandings through mediation saves time, labour and resources. You can resolve the dispute with the help from the professionals you choose,” he said while speaking at an interaction on ‘Importance and challenges of business arbitration’ organised by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) here today. 

Mediation or arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism where disputes are solved outside the courts with the help from the artibtrators. 

He said that the Mediation Act 2011 had ensured the representation of the private sector in the Nepal Council of Arbitration (NCA). 

“If any dispute enters the court, it may take a long time. As the time is counted as money in the business sector, it is necessary that the disputes related to business should be addressed at the earliest. In that case the NCA helps in mediation,” he said. 

According to him, mediation reduces cost and ensures confidentiality, control and compliance, and finds a long-term resolution to the disputes. 

It was accepted as an innovative concept for the alternative dispute resolution after 1970.

FNCCI President Bhawani Rana said that if the disputes were resolved through mediation or arbitration outside the court, it would save time and cost that were inherent with the process and time of the court. 

She urged one and all to take the commercial mediation as a campaign and said that the FNCCI was ready to lead the process. 

“Although arbitration is being practiced as a mechanism for dispute resolution, it cannot be as effective as expected. It’s costly and time-consuming,” she stated. 

Presenting a paper on ‘Mediation in industrial and commercial dispute: importance and challenges’, senior advocate Matrika Niraula said that the mediation could boost peace and prosperity both in the developed or developing countries. 

“No other mechanism is as good as the mediation or arbitration for relation restoration and finding permanent solution to any commercial dispute,” he said.