ODR - An Impending Solution To Disputes

Deepakshi Bhalla & Kriti Sharma, Amity University Lucknow

ABSTRACT

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”

~Frederick Douglass

This article is basically covering the concept of Online dispute resolution (ODR) as an impending method of justice delivery system in India, with special assert on post Covid world. The global epidemic has forced the entire country to switch from offline mode to online. ODR has come up with a more recent approach to ADR that favours technical features such as visual conferences and online discussions. This also treats online dispute resolution as a new emerging way to resolve disputes in India with the help of technology with the great aim of reducing the burden on Indian courts and promoting further out of court settlement. This shift in the functioning of the courts which play a major role in the dispute resolution process, it's a cause for great concern as most of those courts are not equipped to call any kind of trial. In this context, the article seeks to address the legal obligation to play the role of parens patriae in the citizens of the country and to formulate a strong policy framework for adopting online dispute resolution approaches and modern technology solutions such as artificial intelligence to increase access to justice and more importantly to prevent the system from being able to overcome any problems such as COVID-19 in the future. Conflicts are often an integral part of human interactions resulting from different human activities, it is very common that when dispute arises parties should seek to resolve them. A common way to do this is to use alternative dispute resolution methods such as mediation, arbitration, and negotiation.

Keywords: Online dispute resolution (ODR), Covid-19, Arbitration, Mediation, Negotiation.