CJI Surya Kant attends 'Mediation Awareness' walkathon in Panjim, Goa

CJI Surya Kant attended a 'Mediation Awareness' walkathon in Panjim, Goa, organised by the Bar Council of India. He stressed the need for awareness, noting mediation's success rate has risen over 30% and the country needs 2.5 lakh mediators.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Friday attended a 'Mediation Awareness' walkathon organised by the Bar Council of India. During the event, CJI Surya Kant participated in the cleanliness drive and planted a sapling. The CJI emphasised the need to raise awareness of mediation as an alternative to trial, highlighting its growing influence in the country.

"The Bar Council of India has organised this program...Advocates, judges and law students are invited here from around the country. Mediation is not a law that you can enforce. It is something a person voluntarily accepts. Until people are made aware of this, they will not accept it. In recent years, our success rate of mediation has increased more than 30 per cent," he said.

Need for More Mediators

Highlighting the need for more mediators, CJI Surya Kant noted that more people are interested in this field and are approaching us for training. "Today we need more than 2.5 lakhs mediators. We aim to train well-trained mediators and raise awareness. Some people from the private and public sectors have come forward to receive mediation training. This is a great success. There is also a seminar being held today," CJI Surya Kant said.

A Mediation-Prioritised Approach

BJP MP and Chairman, Bar Council of India, Madan Kumar Mishra, said that the walkathon was organised with the aim to convey the message of a mediation-prioritised approach to solve disputes.

Speaking with ANI, Madan Kumar Mishra said, "Under the guidance of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, judges from the Supreme Court and High Courts and lawyers from around the country are here.... This is an awareness campaign, and we are giving a message to the country to go to mediation first to solve their disputes," he said. (ANI)

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