Bangalore: Union government is mulling a proposal on setting up arbitration courts at different levels for delivery of speedy justice pertaining to civil cases to the litigant public, Minister for Law and Justice K Jana Krishnamurthi said on August 31.

Krishnamurthi said his Ministry is currently engaged in evolving a system in this regard, adding, the proposal is to utilise the services of retired judges of the district courts, high courts and Supreme Court.

If one did not utilise the services of retired judges, who had acumen, it's a "social waste", he observed.

Inaugurating regional office of the New Delhi-based International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR), the minister said 65 per cent to 70 per cent of civil cases in the country rested purely on question of facts.

"Such cases can be settled by arbitration courts by way of arbitration, mediation and conciliation," he pointed out, highlighting the importance of the alternative dispute resolution system to curtail undue delay.

On the issue of arbitration courts, he said he already had discussions with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and both were at "same wavelength" and expressed confidence that the proposal would be a reality.

In his address, Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Ashok Bhan, while welcoming the idea of setting up arbitration courts, cautioned that one must ensure that such a system worked and cases were disposed off in a time-bound manner.

Justice Bhan said issues such as penalty for not disposing off cases in a certain timeframe and minimum and maximum fee for arbitrators need to be spelt out first.

Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice N K Jain noted that ICADR has set up the regional office so that matters pertaining to arbitration arising in the state can be disposed off by the arbitrators appointed from amongst the former judges, advocates, engineers and chartered accountants, among others.

PTI