NEW DELHI: With more than 3.2 crore pending cases in India, the Ministry of Law and Justice is working on the concept of pre-trial conference—which is a trend in countries such as USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and Singapore—so that lengthy litigation would become a thing of the past.
According to the government’s National Litigation Policy, pre-trial hearing may be of great help in facilitating a settlement of dispute through an amicable compromise between the parties. In India, the system of pre-trial hearing is not clearly identified as a separate feature of the judicial process, although the CPC and the CrPC contain certain provisions that can be utilised for this purpose.