On the second day of 3-day State-level intensive Mediation Workshop organized by the Mediation and Conciliation Committee of Mediation Centre of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court at SKICC, the experts deliberated in length and breadth on the issues related to the Mediation process in the country.A total six sessions were conducted on different topics and addressed by the Resource Persons (Law Luminaries from outside the State). The law experts enlightened the local judges and lawyers on the advancements in the process of this non-conventional system of Mediation for delivering speedy justices to the parties in the country and abroad.The experts maintained that the system of this alternate justice providing system has become so popular in various countries and majority of cases are being dealt through the process of Mediation. The speakers stressed the need for promoting the mediation system and its optimum use to save the people, especially the poor people from huge expenses and time.The first session on the topic “Philosophy of Mediation” for the judges was chaired over by Justice Mrs. Sindhu Sharma, whereas the Lawyers’ session was presided over presided over by Justice Rashid Ali Dar.
The second session on the topic “Communication” for the judges was chaired by Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Lawyers’ session was presided over by Justice Sanjeev Kumar. During the session, deliberations were held on various forms of communication, active listening, body language, importance of communication techniques and empathy with neutrality.Two combined sessions with judges and lawyers were chaired by Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Sanjeev Kumar while Justice TashiRabstan and Justice Alok Aradhe was also present on the occasion. During the sessions, Resource Persons engaged with the participants in various activities and role plays of mediation to give the practical shape to the theories learnt during separate sessions. Discussions and deliberations were also held on stages of mediation and different steps to be followed in conflict resolution.The post-lunch sessions for judges and lawyers were chaired by Justice Rashid Ali Dar and Justice Sindhu Sharma respectively. During the sessions, participants deliberated upon role of the referral judge, reference to ADR, stages of referral, cases suitable for reference, motivating the parities, referral orders, post conclusion of mediation, mediator techniques in Impasse and perception-prejudices, biases and stereotypes.Resource Persons of national and international repute including, Dinesh Kumar Sharma, Registrar General, Delhi High Court, Dharmesh Sharma, Principal Judge, Family Court, Shailendra Kour, Judge-in-charge, Delhi Mediation Centre, Aloysius Goh, Chief Executive Officer & Registrar, SIMC, Singapore, J.P. Singh, Sudhanshu Batra, Sr. Advocates, Ms. Sadhana Ramachandran, Ms. Veena Ralli, Ms. Amita Sehgal, and Anuj Aggarwal, Advocates conducted the sessions.Mr. Puneet Gupta, Registrar Vigilance and Coordinator, Mediation and Conciliation Committee, Mr. Abdul Rashid Malik, Director J&K State Judicial Academy, Mr. Yashpal Bourney, Member Secretary, J&K State Legal Services Authority, Mr. Mohammad Yousuf Wani, Registrar J&K High Court, judicial officers, lawyers attended the workshop.