People's Democracy

WEST BENGAL

  Pre-Litigation Conciliation Bill:

A Praiseworthy Attempt

Niladri Sen

THE Pre-Litigation Conciliation Board Bill-2004 up to the block level has been placed recently in the West Bengal state assembly by the Left Front government. After introduction, the bill has been placed before the standing committee of the assembly for its opinion. There shall be ample opportunity for the assembly to debate thoroughly the pros and cons of the bill when the standing committee gives its opinion. But the opposition parties like Trinamul Congress and Congress have become too impatient to wait for the opinion of the standing committee and have resorted to the most un-parliamentary behaviour in the House. The way they have raised the issue makes clear that their motive is to spread disinformation among the people against the Left Front government. Therefore, some elaboration of what exactly the bill is would be quite in place.

Conciliation is one of the best ways for settlement of the disputes, especially for the poor rural people. It has been a practice in our country and in many predominantly rural countries to settle the little disputes in the villages itself. So it is high time to mark the positive sides of such a system and put in place legal framework with all safeguards for the greater social interest of the people. Lok Adalats have been running in different states from 1995 and lakhs of disputes are settled. The Lok Adalats were in fact creation of the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government in 1987. The former union law minister Adhok Sen sent a letter to the state government with a direction to form such Adalats. The Lok Adalats got legal status through the Legal Service Authorities Act, 1987.

It is not possible for the poor rural people to move directly to the court and contest such little disputes as it would not only be quite expensive but also take very long time to get justice. Therefore the Lok Adalats became very popular among the poor people not only in rural areas but also in urban areas. It has been found that 95 per cent disputes are amicably settled through the Lok Adalats. In western countries, such “alternative settlement of disputes” mechanisms achieved very good response. Learning from this experience, Civil Procedure Code has been amended in our country with addition of Section 89 in order to provide opportunities for amicable settlement of disputes before taking them to courts.

Unfortunately, a section of advocates are opposing the proposed Pre-Litigation Conciliation Bill 2004 without having sufficient knowledge about it. Most of those opposing are afraid that this Bill will reduce the court cases thus affecting their profession. At least they should know that disputes and court cases are separate by nature. Only 0.17 per cent of the population can settle their disputes in the courts. And moreover any contending party not satisfied with the settlement through conciliation has the right to approach the court. It must be noted that conciliation is not compulsory but only an optional alternative process of settling disputes. So the fears of the lawyers that this bill would hamper their profession are misplaced. However, lawyers are also expected to be more conscious of their social obligations and should see the positive aspects of the bill for the society. This process of settlement avoids the bitterness between the contending parties, which usually develops during long drawn out litigation in the courts.

The “Lok Adalat” exists up to the sub-divisional level, but not below. So, it was essential to give legal recognition to the already existing rural conciliation system so as to develop its quality. The unnecessary workload of the court can easily be reduced through an effective rural conciliation system. There are more than 2 crore cases before all the district courts in our country, among them 15 lakh are in West Bengal only. This enormous number is putting heavy burden on the courts, which is resulting in inordinate delays and pendency of cases. In this context, without any comment, we may recall Justice Chandrachur’s comment: “Money power is more powerful than the legal boards.”

The main features of the Pre-Litigation Conciliation Bill 2004 are:

• Settlement of disputes shall be made at the block level between the contestants.

• The main objective is amicable settlement of disputes unlike in the manner of courts. Previously it has been called legal settlement but now it has been treated as total settlement.

• The motive of the Left Front government in West Bengal is to make arrangements for the conciliation process by the eligible persons. Those who have no experience or are not qualified in legal matters will not be eligible to deal with conciliation matters.

• It may be noted that State Legal Services Authority is such an organisation in which the judges of the High Court are holding the posts and similarly district judges are participating in different districts. Particular proposals are given in the bill about the eligibility of the members of the Board.

• The Panchayat Samity with the advice and recommendations of the State Legal Services Authority and the district administration shall set up the Board.

• There are full rights to the parties to move on to the court if not satisfied by the Conciliation Board.

• The parties are allowed to engage their lawyers to settle the disputes.