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Our Bureau

Kolkata , March 19

THE Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Council of State Governments (CSG), University of Kentucky of the US, for developing a skills-based training programme for individuals in ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution)-Mediation-Conciliation procedures in Kolkata. The training is part of the ICC-University of Kentucky Partnership for Conflict Resolution in industry.

The programme, for creating a specialised pool of professional arbitrators, who would be attached to the already functioning Arbitration Cell of ICC, is expected to begin by August this year, and would be conducted by experts from CSG.

Talking to Business Line here after addressing a Roundtable conference on "ADR" the best mechanism for dispute redressal," Mr Albert Harberson, Senior Management Consultant for CSG and the US Department of State, said the ICC training programme was one of the two projects being taken up by the CSG in India, the other one being the highly successful on-going training programme for the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on Environmental Dispute Resolution methods. The projects are being funded by the US Department of State.

Mr Harberson informed that the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court has already set the ball rolling for creation of a Tamil Nadu Mediation and Conciliation Centre, which will take up training in mediation-conciliation techniques, particularly assisted negotiations with regard to disputes pertaining to the State PCB. The training module was nearly ready and the programme is likely to start in July this year, said Mr Harberson.

He said CSG was now working with the TN State pollution body to create a national model, which can be followed by the PCBs of other Indian states. The 70-year old CSG, he pointed out, was the largest organisation of State Government officials in the US, with all 50 States having membership.

Mr Harberson said the current emerging trends in the US hint at limitations of the traditional methods of dispute resolution (through the bureaucratic court system), which are both expensive and time-consuming. Voluntary informal proceedings in mediation-conciliation adopted by parties in dispute can bring about mutually acceptable solutions, wherein all parties can benefit, he pointed out. "In the US, some 80 per cent of the cases which go through the mediation process are successful."

Pointing out that ADR builds relationships, he said it also resolved B-to-B business conflicts much faster, thereby conserving valuable corporate resources. He said some 28 States in the US had very effective ADR programmes in place.

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