He lamented that court process often turns out to be punishment for litigants who start to think that they should ‘keep away from courts’.
“Log itna trast ho jate hain court ke mamlon se wo koi bhi settlement chahte hain. Bas court se dur kara dijiye (People are often fed up with court proceedings that they resort to whatever settlement they can. They think ‘just keep us away from courts’),” he said.
The process is punishment and this is a concern for us judges, he conceded.
However, since settlement of disputes via mediation and Lok Adalat involve lot of systemic inequalities, judges sitting as part of Lok Adalat often do not agree to settle matters for small amounts even if the parties are willing.
“Very often we say we will not allow settlement as it reflects pre-existing inequalities in the society. For example in a case, when Justice Vikram Nath heard an offer of ₹1 lakh as settlement charge, he denied. He said a better outcome should be there and thus ₹6 lakh with consent was ordered,” the CJI stated.
The CJI was speaking at the commemoration of the week-long Lok Adalat held in the Supreme Court of India from July 29 to August 2 which witnessed several benches of the top court disposing of over 1,000 cases.
Source: Barandbench
