NEW DELHI, May 3: President Droupadi Murmu today made a strong pitch to extend the dispute resolution mechanism to rural areas so that the Panchayats are legally empowered to mediate and resolve the conflicts in villages.
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She said social harmony in villages is an essential prerequisite of making the nation strong.
Murmu also said that while people who mediate in family or land disputes in village are socially empowered, they lack legal empowerment which leads to such cases failing to get settle at the village level itself.
Addressing the first conference on mediation here, she said during resolution of disputes, affected parties know that the mediators lack delegation of legal powers, therefore, they do not agree with the decisions.
The President said there was a need to create a mechanism where disputes at village level are settled there only and the atmosphere is not vitiated and people live in harmony.
At times the disputes spiral out. Several small issues can be resolved at the grassroots level itself, she asserted.
Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, CJI-designate B R Gavai and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal were also present at the event.
Murmu said it could perhaps be due to an oversight or lack of time that a judicial system from the village to the Supreme Court has not been established.
She said the mediation system did exist in the villages. But since people are educated now, they know that the mediators lack any power.
Murmu said the Mediation Act, 2023 was the first step in consolidating the civilisational legacy. Now we need to add momentum to it and strengthen its practice, she stressed.
The President said that mediation is an essential part of the delivery of justice, which is at the heart of the Constitution of India. (PTI)
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