MU to help citizens resolve disputes through mediation

Yogita Rao TNN 

Mumbai: To lessen the burden on the state’s legal services, the University of Mumbai, along with the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority, will offer pre-litigation mediation services. The move aims to reduce the number of pending court cases. 
    Petitioners will either be directed to this centre, which will be called Mumbai University Legal Aid Clinic, or they can approach it on their own. The clinic will function on the first and third Saturday of every month. 
    The permission to establish the clinic at the university’s law department was recently granted by the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority. The permission letter stated that the centre could hold legal awareness programmes, legal literacy camps, pre-litigation mediation and similar services in co-ordination with the High Court Legal Services Committee, Mumbai. It further stated that the “HC legal services committee will be supervising and monitoring the clinic activities and will also provide office personnel for legal services for better functioning”. 
    The initiative is the brainchild of professor Ashok Yende, who is also the head of department of law. “There are several lakhs of cases pending in court. With this clinic, we can help in disposing some of them and reduce the load on the court,” said Yende. The university’s law department faculty and court-appointed advocates will help resolve disputes at the clinic. Besides, senior varsity students will be allowed to work on cases as a part of their course projects. “The department will write to affiliated colleges to send in faculty and names of those students who would like to serve the clinic voluntarily,” he said. 
    Once cases come to the centre, facilitators will try to settle them. “After parties agree for settlement, we will make them sign memorandums of settlement on a stamp papers and submit it to the legal services authority. They will have to agree they don’t have any grievances. After the arbitration process, they cannot go back to the court,” said Yende, adding that the arbitration could be challenged in court on legal, technical and constitutional grounds, if either party is not satisfied. 
    The department also plans to advertise the clinic to create awareness among citizens. Yende said he is yet to discuss it with the legal services authority.
 
Source:::::: The Times of India, 15-04-2013, p.05, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW