Family
plays a crucial role in any community or society. A family
is an association as well as an institution. Not only economic
needs but also, more importantly, the emotional needs of the
members are taken care of in the family. Today, divorces and
disputes over property inheritance are proliferating like
never before. The reasons may vary from economic conditions
to professional problems and psychological imbalances. The
author of the article made a socio-legal study of the causes
of the conflict in the family. It is important for the society
to devise means of protecting the family and also preventing
and resolving the disputes that could damage and destroy the
delicate fabric of the family. The author suggests conciliation
and mediation for the resolution of these disputes as these
mechanisms offer multifaceted resolution advantages like objectivity,
due focus on the issues, neutrality and independence. The
author also gives an overview of various statutory frameworks
in India supporting ADR mechanisms in family disputes.
There
is a growing feeling among the legal experts, sociologists
and psychiatrists that the use of The IUP Journal of Alternative Dispute Resolution
(ADR) methods such as Mediation, Arbitration etc., must be
encouraged in the resolution of family disputes. This school
advocates the replacement of adversarial court system with
a less formal interactive procedure by providing well organized
supporting services such as family counseling services, reconciliation
services, investigative services, legal aid services and enforcement
services. Justice R C Lahoti, the Chief Justice of India,
strongly endorsed the view that there are inherent weaknesses
in the existing justice delivery systems which call for effective
measures for strengthening the institutional processes. He
also stressed the importance of the ADR mechanism, because
the aim of ADR is to bring about a durable resolution of disputes
and not to impose and enforce decisions. According to him,
ADR mechanism especially mediation and reconciliation should
play a major role in settling disputes, as it would save energy,
time and money of the litigants, particularly in family matters.
The
family plays an important role in the society and it has certain
functional requisites which include biological functions,
reproduction, socialization, production and distribution of
goods and services, maintenance of order within the group
and maintenance of motivation for individual and group survival
etc.
As
a social unit, a family is defined as a group of persons of
both sexes, related by marriage, blood or adoption, performing
roles based on age, sex and relationship, and socially distinguished
as making up a single household or a sub-household.2 The relationship between the members of the family is undergoing
a change because of breakdown of harmonious relations, lack
of cooperation, vested interests and absence of unity and
discipline. This leads to the disorganization of family. |
