Chief Justice of India, honorable Sharad Arvind Bobde on Saturday called for reducing dependence on courts by promoting parties to opt for ''pre-litigation mediation'' which has ''a way of solving problems'', both civil and criminal, which arise from similar dispute.

The Chief Justice made the remarks while addressing a function at Patna where he inaugurated a new ''centenary building'' of the Patna High Court, in presence of a host of dignitaries, including Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, among others.

''Litigation is fine and making provisions for litigation is fine. But it is time we resort to pre-litigation mediation'', said the Chief Justice. He said disputes solved through pre-litigation mediations ''made a big difference to the feeling among disputants'' besides reducing dependence upon courts.

''I was discussing with the Law Minister that the only thing lacking in a pre-litigation meditation was a force of law. This was being included since it is the essence of pre-litigation mediation'', the CJI added.

He observed that the need for new court buildings implied that there was an ''increased legal literacy......which is necessary, without encouraging litigiousness and cantankerousness'' and people were ''increasingly approaching courts to settle their disputes, instead of taking the law into their own hands''. He also spoke about the judiciary being ''heavily invested'' in making use of technology for speedy dispensation of justice and sought to allay fears that the use of Artificial Intelligence in judicial work could affect ''decision making'' by the judges.

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