Laying emphasis on cyber mediation centres, Justice Sinha said, “By 2025, we must have online mediation for which we have to prepare from now. Mediation and Conciliation is a means for achieving the Alternate Dispute Redressal Mechanism Vision 2025.”

Justice Sinha inaugurated three permanent Lok Adalats in the premises of the High Court in the morning.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice T S Thakur said that in 1955 when the court was shifted from Shimla, the strength of the judges was eight and pendency of the cases were 6,356 but, today, pendency has increased by nearly 30 times while the number of judges have increased by barely six times to 48.

Justice Thakur said Mediation is a voluntary non-binding process in which impartial and neutral mediators assist the parties in reaching an agreement.

He added, “The biggest challenge the Indian judiciary is facing today is the large number of cases with nearly three crore cases pending in the courts.”

Justice Sinha said increasing the numbers of judges is not the solution to reduce the number of pending cases.