Uttar Pradesh gets its first mediation & arbitration centre

Facility aims to aid government, investors; reduce time taken to enforce contracts and resolve disputes

Deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak on Monday inaugurated Uttar Pradesh’s first mediation and arbitration centre in Lucknow.

Dy CM Pathak at the launch of CEMA in Lucknow on Monday (Sourced)

Centre for Excellence in Mediation and Arbitration or CEMA, the founders of which are a group of senior advocates and former chief justice of Allahabad high court Justice Govind Mathur, aims to support investments in the state and facilitate ease of doing business for investors. It also promises to support the government in providing professional assistance should there be a need to resolve commercial disputes through the process of ADR (alternative dispute resolution).

The deputy CM and Aseem Arun, minister of state for social welfare, also launched the centre’s logo at the event, which also saw a panel discussion between senior advocates, justice SU Khan of Allahabad high court, advisor to chief minister Awanish Awasthi and representatives from Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

While pledging the government’s full support to the initiative, Pathak said relevant amendments would be made to the Arbitration Act to make it at par with international standards.

Senior advocate Prashant Chandra, also a member of CEMA, in his address said the state could see improvement in “the time taken in the enforcement of contracts and resolution of disputes”. He elaborated that India stood 175th on a list of 180 countries when it comes to the enforcement of contracts. “The average time taken in the country is 1445 days, which is more than double of the global average. CEMA is a small but critical initiative,” he said. Awasthi expressed his opinion that even government officials should be trained in matters of arbitration.