Online Disputes Resoultion (ODR): The Future of Justice in India
Sharda University, India
Volume III, Issue IV, 2020
This research papers primarily deals with the concept of online dispute resolution as the emerging method of justice delivery system in India, with special emphasizes on post Covid world. The global pandemic has forced the whole nation to shift from offline work mode to online or work from home method. Apart from this, it has created an unprecedented impact on Indian Judiciary along with forthcoming corporate disputes and other implications. ODR has emerged a recent method over ADR which is favored by the technological nuances like virtual conferences and online negotiations. This also deals with ODR or Online Dispute Resolution as the new emerging method of dispute resolution in India through the help of technology with major aim at lowering down the load on Indian Courts and promoting more of out-of-court settlement.
This shift over the functioning of subordinate courts, which play a major role in the dispute resolution process, is the cause of significant concern as the majority of such courts are not even equipped to convene any sort of virtual proceedings. In this context, the paper attempts to discuss the obligation of the judiciary to play the role of the parens patriae to country’s citizens and develop a substantive policy framework to adopt Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) mechanisms and modern technology solutions, like Artificial Intelligence (AI), to increase the access to justice, and more importantly, prevent the system from succumbing to any such crisis like COVID-19 in future.
Keywords: ODR, Internet Century, ADR, Artificial Technology, Justice Delivery System, Dispute Resolution.