ADR in Artha Rin Adalat Ain-

The Artha Rin Adalat Ain 2003 is a special law that laid down, for the very first time, the foundation for speedy disposal of money suits connected with the banking and the non-banking financial institutions. The end in view, inter alia, was the quick recovery of loan amount advanced by the financial institutions within the shortest possible time. Before the amendment in 2010, the provision of ADR was incorporated into the Ain in the form of 'settlement conference'. The court could mediate the suit after the written statement was filed by the defendant or defendants, by adjourning the subsequent procedures of the suit. According to the provision, the presiding judge would call for a settlement conference with a view to settle the dispute at an early stage of the case. The settlement conference would be held in camera. 

Under sections 21 and 22 of the Artha Rin Adalat Ain 2003, twomodes of the ADR, settlement conference and arbitration, have beenintroduced in the commercial dispute. Section 21 defines theSettlement Conference as a conference comprising the parties, their lawyers and their representatives and presided over by the judge of The Artha Rin Adalat for disposing of the suit in an informal, non-binding,confidential and non-adversarial manner on the basis of mutual cooperation and understanding of all concerned.”45 Section 21 deals with the details procedure of the Settlement Conference and section 22 provides for the arbitration of the commercial dispute. After the filing of written statement the court may, keeping pending all subsequent proceeding refer the suit to the lawyers of the parties or where no lawyers have been engaged, to the parties themselves. But where the parties agree to try and settle the dispute through arbitration, the court is bound to refer the dispute for arbitration. Inserting the ADR system in commercial dispute certainly improves the investment in this field. 

ADR in Civil Matters- 

ADR in Civil Matters Following the unprecedented success of the family court in resolving family disputes through ADR machinery (Hasan, 2001) , the Legislature incorporated ADR mechanisms into the Code of Civil Procedure,1908 (hereinafter referred to as the Code) by way of amendments. The amended Act of 2003 introduces the court based mediation and arbitration as integral part of the civil proceedings in Bangladesh. However, it was the discretionary power of the court to explore the scope of mediation. Later on, the Code was amended again in 2012 that made the mediation system mandatory in civil proceeding. The Act went through another amendment in 2006 that introduced the provision of mediation even at the appellate stage. As stated, section 89A provided for the provisions relating to mediation. 

Explanation 1 to the section defines mediation as “flexible, informal, non-binding, confidential, non-adversarial and consensual dispute resolution process in which the mediator shall facilitate compromise of disputes in the suit between the parties without directing or dictating the terms of such compromise.” The analysis of the definition reveals that mediation under the Code is flexible, informal, non-binding, confidential, non-adversarial and consensual in nature.