BACKGROUND
Dispute resolution mechanisms today are fragmented between Conciliation, Mediation, Arbitration, Litigation and ODR. Institutionally speaking, dispute administration is divided between courts, institutions and ad hoc neutrals. Among institutions there’s those created by law/ central government (eg. India International Arbitration Centre), those that are court annexed/ judiciary led ( eg. Delhi International Arbitration Centre), cooperative society style institutions (International Agro Arbitration Centre (IAAC)), private but government backed institutions (IAMC(H) and privately owned institutions. Within the privately owned institutions, there’s the not for profit ones, run either by technical experts (IIT Arb), backed by lawyers or retired judges (MCIA, IAMC(H)), or the for profit ones, run by barely lawyers (SAMA) and non-lawyer, non-technical entrepreneurs led (Presolv360, etc.). Let’s not forget the pre-litigation institutions (like DDRS), the statutory but limited relief institutions (like Facilitation Councils under MSME Acts) and sector-specific institutions (SEBI enabled Smart ODR solution providers).
TO MANY CHOICES
Users are left confused with no clue as to which is the right forum for them, which institutions are independent, which are profit-making, which are mandatory and which allow opt-out, which will bring finality to their dispute, which will only delay. Other than the above, smaller users specifically, often have absolutely no choice or autonomy in the matter.
INCONCLUSIVE AND LENGTHY MULTI-TIER SYSTEM
Further, multi-tier dispute resolution clauses requiring users to exhaust each of the prior mechanism before moving to the next, add to the chaos of the dispute resolution industry. Not to forget, users empaneling multiple institutions for appointing and administration. Together, all of the above, make dispute management in India an extremely complex task. The scenario is even worse for organizations handling volumes of disputes on a regular basis.
THE AI PUSH
And now with the push towards Digital India and the emphasis on AI, multiple techno-legal solutions or service providers, AI or non-AI based applications and AI solutions have also sprouted to add to the chaos created by the above factors. But in absence of any regulations, they are also marred with poor quality services, less than satisfactory ethics, non-compliant legal, confidentiality, data privacy and cyber security requirements.