Supreme Court judge Justice Ajay Rastogi recently recommended all advocates to undergo a training course in mediation, observing that it would “alter (their) lifestyle, approach to clients, perception towards not only themselves but to the family also”.
A bench of Justice Rastogi and Justice Bela Trivedi made the observation while hearing a builder-homebuyers matter.
Senior Advocate Parag Tripathi, who was representing the party, urged the bench that all attorneys should first consider mediation because otherwise, everything easily becomes adversarial in litigation.
At this point, Judge Rastogi stated, “Sure. Now I’m going back to 2010, when they were requesting that we all go to mediation. My first thought was, we’ve been in the system for so long, what sort of mediation is there…. But I was mistaken. Later I entered mediation, the training mediation, run by two officers here, one of whom subsequently became a judge, though I’m not sure if he is still a judge today- Mr. Sudhir Jain. This mediation workshop was also attended by me. I have no qualms with admitting that my personal perception has shifted.”
“My request to the lawyers is, whosoever gets the opportunity to undergo this training course, wherever you get, by sparing time, by sparing your briefs also, sometime do it. It will change your lifestyle! It will change your own perception, not towards yourself but to the family also! And your response to clients will definitely be changed,” he added.
Following that, Advocate Tripathi stated, “My Lord is correct! It alters your perception of people, family, and everything else! It provides a fresh perspective!”
Rastogi, Justice: “I have sent all of my judicial officers in my state for training in batches. All! I called those folks in my state, and if that wasn’t possible, I sent the cops in batches to other states. Yet, all cops must go through training.”
Senior Counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who was also present for the matter, advanced, “There is no doubt that we must all go through training. Nonetheless, much of the training must take place at the initial levels. When it comes to the Supreme Court, after 20 years of putting clients and lawyers through the wringer, convincing them that ‘Look, let’s straighten it out’ is a considerably more difficult assignment. According to Mr. Nariman’s book, the spirit of accommodation has died. He is correct. Every time a case comes up, we must all make that effort….”
Regarding this, Justice Rastogi stated, “By the time it has travelled to this Court, this individual has endured so much of mental stress and anguish that he may consider that ‘OK, whatever is done in the past, forget about it, let’s find out if something is doable’. That is why, in marriage cases, we are seeing great results in this Supreme Court mediation! And all matters that come before this court in marriage proceedings must be at least 10 years old!”
