Separation of Powers, Dispute Redressal and Alternative Dispute Resolution · UPPCS (Uttar Pradesh)

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, General Studies II:

Separation of powers, dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions. Emergence and use of alternative dispute redressal mechanisms.

The doctrine as stated by Montesquieu; strict separation in the USA compared with the fusion of executive and legislature in a parliamentary system
Indian form: functional separation without rigid separation; Article 50 (separation of the judiciary from the executive)
Executive power of the Union and the states (Articles 53 and 154); legislative power of Parliament and state legislatures; judicial power of the courts
Mutual restraint: courts may not inquire into proceedings of legislatures (Articles 122 and 212); legislatures may not discuss the conduct of judges in the discharge of duties (Articles 121 and 211)
Checks and balances: judicial review, impeachment and removal procedures, ordinances (Articles 123 and 213), delegated legislation, legislative control over the executive
Cases: Ram Jawaya Kapur (1955) on executive power; Indira Nehru Gandhi v Raj Narain (1975) on separation of powers as basic structure
Judicial activism and judicial overreach; executive and legislative responses to court rulings

Hierarchy of courts: Supreme Court, High Courts, district and subordinate courts
Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in disputes between the Union and states (Article 131)
Tribunals under Articles 323A and 323B (added by the 42nd Amendment): Central Administrative Tribunal (Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985) and state administrative tribunals
Other tribunals: National Green Tribunal (2010), NCLT and NCLAT, Armed Forces Tribunal, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal; L. Chandra Kumar (1997) on judicial review of tribunal decisions; the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021
Consumer commissions at district, state and national levels under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019
Inter-state river water dispute tribunals; election petitions in the High Courts
Ombudsman-type bodies: Lokpal and Lokayuktas, human rights commissions, information commissions, the RBI's integrated ombudsman scheme
Problems: pendency of cases, vacancies in courts and tribunals, delay and cost, access for the poor

Why ADR: speed, lower cost, flexibility, confidentiality, preserving relationships
Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure: reference to arbitration, conciliation, judicial settlement including Lok Adalat, and mediation
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, based on the UNCITRAL model law; amendments of 2015, 2019 and 2021; institutional arbitration and the India International Arbitration Centre
Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987: NALSA, state and district legal services authorities, Lok Adalats (award deemed a civil court decree, no appeal), Permanent Lok Adalats for public utility services, National Lok Adalats
Free legal aid under Article 39A (added by the 42nd Amendment)
Mediation Act, 2023; pre-institution mediation in commercial disputes (Commercial Courts Act, 2015 as amended in 2018)
Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008; family courts and conciliation in matrimonial cases
Online dispute resolution; limits of ADR (enforcement, unequal bargaining power, quality of arbitrators)