Online Dispute Resolution to Expedite Highway Projects

India owes its economic growth to the rapidly evolving infrastructure and the expeditious implementation of civil projects and initiatives undertaken by its government. Among a myriad of civil initiatives, Digital India is the one that stands out. The drive focuses on empowering the country by integrating technology in public services.

One such public service that is getting integrated with modern technology under Digital India is arbitration and conciliation in the highways sector. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has proposed the introduction of cyber arbitration through Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) for resolving issues, such as land acquisition, that arise during legal processes through dedicated software and Internet.

ODR is set to modernise the litigation system and shift the paradigm from the old system to a new type of arbitration and conciliation that primarily focuses on the maintenance of cyber data relating to the sector. It will cut down all the paperwork and court hours and expedite highway projects.

Mr Akhilesh Srivastava, Chief General Manager (CGM) of IT & Highway Operations in the NHAI, was inducted into a high-power committee on ODR, and he has been working on the initiative along with other officials to improve transparency in arbitration. ODR will eliminate manual record keeping and digitalise it to provide accuracy. This is expected to promote transparency in the work process and eliminate any kind of gross error that is a massive hindering possibility when it comes to manual inputs.

Recently on his LinkedIn profile, CGM Srivastava spoke about the aspects of the government operations that will get a boost from ODR. He also said that the implementation of ODR has the potential to revive the construction industry and wipe out fraudulent practices in the system. This is a drive that is expected to enhance the rate of transparency in the projects and eliminate ill practices administered by a number of officials in the sector of law and litigation.

Not just that, Online Dispute Resolution is also expected to generate employment in the software industry for graduates and experienced professionals. This system also will transform India into one of the best destinations for international arbitration and conciliation. This is the major reason why officials, especially Mr Akhilesh Srivastava has been encouraging the youth to take the trainings in the related departments because there is going to be a hike in the employment in this sector.

Overall, the implementation of Online Dispute Resolution is expected to wash out the possibilities of fraudulent practices in the construction industry and promote transparency in the projects. This is expected to pose India as one of the best dispute resolution centres on an international level which would definitely be a great achievement for India.

Mr Akhilesh Srivastava along with the other committee members for the ODR is working on the functionality and implementation aspect of it. Once administered successfully, it will have the capability of reviving the construction industry from the pits of hell. Online Dispute Resolution is expected to create impactful changes in the system in the future.

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Harish Bandla is recently graduated from Savitribai Phule Pune University with a degree in marketing and Finance, his interests also include book reading, article writing. You can find him on LinkedIn and G+ as Harish32.