Friday, July 16, 2010

Cyber Arbitration And Mediation Centre Of India

Cyber arbitration in India or cyber mediation in India is the recognition of the changing trend of dispute resolution. Traditionally dispute resolution was an exclusive task of the court alone.

However, the business community desired for an alternative for court litigation. This resulted in the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms like arbitration, mediation, conciliation, lok adalats, etc.

Information and communication technology (ICT) changed the very manner in which these ADR mechanisms are used. Now business community is stressing more upon online dispute resolution (ODR) than ADR mechanism.

ODR is the most convenient, efficient and speedier method of dispute resolution. The parties are not even required to leave their places and they can resolve their disputes even while sitting at their homes or offices.

With the benefits of ODR there are certain challenges attached to it as well. For instance there are very few ODR service providers in India. Even lesser are the ODR experts who can resolve the disputes through ODR. Further, when it comes to scientific disciplines, there is an inherent limitation for ODR providers to understand those issues. Fortunately, we have a cyber arbitration and mediation centre (CAMC) in India that is providing world class ADR and ODR services.

Sooner or later Indian arbitrators and mediators must learn to adopt and use ODR as the future belong to the ODR community. If you are a lawyer or judge you may consider the techno-legal training platform by Perry4Law Techno Legal base (PTLB) for getting good ADR and ODR training.

If you are an arbitrator or mediator or other professional, you may consider another platform of PTLB that provides cyber law, ODR and other similar trainings. All these platforms of PTLB provide online training, coaching and education and you can get these training as per your convenience.

Cyber Arbitration In India

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in India has a history of more than 60 years with the Arbitration Act 1940 as one of the initial laws in this regard. The 1940 act was repealed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.

This has, however, not produced much change in the ADR law of India. The backlog of civil cases keeps on increasing despite the 1996 Act. This is due to the fact that there are many legal, procedural and fundamental weaknesses in the 1996 Act.

The 1996 Act is in the process of reformulation and there are numerous lacunas that must be removed in the next ADR law of India. The Parliament of India has, however, a serious limitation while formulating ADR laws. It is not much aware of the information and communication technology (ICT) related issues of ADR.

Cyber arbitration is one such aspect. Cyber arbitration is popularly known as online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanism. ODR is a better and improved form of ADR provided India is willing to encash its benefits.

The problem is there are very few ODR institutions in India. Even lesser are ODR experts who can resolve technical, legal and other scientific disputes in an online environment. Even the national litigation policy of India (NLPI) failed to address this issue.

There is no doubt that formulating good techno-legal ODR practices and regulations require tremendous expertise. There are few ODR providers who can assist the Indian government in this regard.

Law Enforcement Of India Needs Cyber Law Training

Law enforcement in India finds it really difficult to deal with technology related cases. There is an urgent need to train them in technology related fields. They cannot always seek outside help for solving cyber crimes and technology related crimes.

They must have techno-legal solution at their disposal so that cases can be efficiently and quickly solved. Further, they must also develop indigenous law enforcement intelligence capabilities.

One may frequently come across media claims that make the law enforcement of India tech savvy. The fact is that law enforcement in India is not at all aware of technology related issues.

Not only the law enforcement machinery of India must be trained in the field of cyber law but also they must have basic level cyber forensics training. Mere opening of cyber crime cell and conducting few workshops would not serve the purpose. Law enforcement in India needs long term and durable training.

Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB), a reputed cyber law training organisation, imparts cyber law training to law officials, judges, police officers, lawyers and corporate personnel. The online training sessions offered by the institution does not even require the learner to be physically present at the training venue. They can learn as per their convenience, from the comfort of their offices.

It would be a good idea if the government of India provides real and effective cyber law and cyber forensics training to police force of India. With growing incidences of cyber crimes in India this has become a much required necessity.