Panaji: India should strive to be a
preferred destination for international arbitrations, Union
Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said on Sunday.
"India is not a preferred destination for international
arbitrations and even our domestic arbitration has a problem,"
he told reporters after chairing a regional meeting on
implementation of 13th Finance Commission Recommendations in
improving justice here.
"Our country should be most preferred destination for
arbitration. In Delhi, we have excellent mediation centre. We
also want to upgrade mediation centres in Ahmedabad, Mumbai
and Bangalore so that they become centre of international
arbitration," he added.
Moily said Goa`s status as a tourist destination can help
the state to be a preferred destination for a possible centre
for international arbitration along with other cities in the
country.
"Since Goa is a preferred destination for tourists, it
can also be an international centre for arbitration. We would
like to support effort of Goa Chief Minister to make the state
a preferred destination for international mediations," he
said.
Moily said Goa, which has 28,000 pending cases, can be
the first state in the country to become arrear free.
Earlier, addressing the meeting, Moily sought cooperation
of Chief Justice, Judges and legal luminaries of High Courts,
District and other courts in reducing the large number of
pending cases in various courts in the country in next 4-5
years.
The Central Government has made a special provision of
14,000 crore of which Rs 5,000 crore have already been
released to States and balance will be released soon, he said.
The minister asked the States to prepare a road map for
five years in this regard.
The states should improve the justice delivery system
through morning and evening courts, he said.
"Some of the states like Gujarat have shown encouraging
results," Moily said.
On Lok Adalats, he said, Law Secretaries of the states
should make efforts to hold more Lok Adalats to dispose the
cases.
Moily, in his speech, also dealt upon various issues like
classification of cases, fast track courts, e-courts projects,
setting up of more CBI courts and Family Courts and related
subjects.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, Law Minister of
Chattisgarh Ramvichar Netam, Chief Justice of Bombay High
Court Justice Mohit Shah, Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court
Justice Mukhopadhya, Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court
Justice Jagadish Bhalla, Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh
Justice Rafat Alam, Law Secretary Neela Gangadharan, Law
Advisor T K Vishwanathan, attended the meeting along with
other legal luminaries.
PTI
