Terms & Conditions
1. Scope
​
1.1. This website (Website), and the technological or online portal (Portal), and access to any online dispute resolution services (ODR Services) made available on the Portal by the Service Provider (Bharat Disputes Resolution, hereinafter referred to as “BDR” ) to you (You or User) are subject to these terms of use (ToU), the Rules and Procedures (R&P), the Privacy Policy (PP) published on the Website (available at: www.bharatdisputes.com) provided that in the event of a conflict between a provision of the ToU (as amended from time to time) and any provision contained in any specific written agreement that has entered into with You (Specific Agreement), the provision contained in the Specific Agreement shall override the provision of these ToU to the extent of such conflict as between BDR and You. The R&P and the PP published on the Website and as updated from time to time are incorporated by reference into these ToU. Capitalised terms used but not defined in these ToU will have the meanings ascribed to them under the R&P. 
1.2. A dispute is considered to be an ‘Active Dispute’ after an invitation by a party to a dispute to use ODR Services through BDR’s Portal in relation to a dispute is accepted by all the other parties to such dispute and BDR  agrees to allow all parties to such dispute access to the ODR Services through its Portal for resolution of such dispute. Any violation of these ToU by the User or any other party to an Active Dispute may lead to BDR suspending, aborting or limiting the ODR Services to the parties to such Active Dispute. The User is solely and completely responsible for understanding and complying with any and all laws, rules and regulations of India that may be applicable to in connection with the User’s use of the Website, Portal and the ODR Services.
1.3. Access to the ODR Services facilitated by BDR and any award made by any dispute resolution professional (DRP) in relation to an Active Dispute do not and do not purport to constitute the expression of any legal opinion or view on any provision of any law by BDR. Any award, order, settlement proposal, direction, or any other communication (written or otherwise) of any nature provided by BDR or a DRP to the User (BDR  Communication) is intended to be relied upon only by the User and any parties to the Active Dispute in relation to which such BDR Communication is issued and only in connection with the matters to which the BDR  Communication relates and should not be used, quoted or referred to in any document or for any purpose other than as explicitly mentioned in such BDR  Communication, unless the same is required for the purpose of dealing with an appeal application made with respect to the award.
1.4. The provision of access to the ODR Services on the Portal pursuant to these ToU is subject to the User’s prompt payment of any fees agreed between the User and BDR in writing, as amended from time to time. 
1.5. BDR does not have any control over the legality or enforceability of the inter-se agreement between the parties to an Active Dispute that form the basis for its reference to BDR, and the User agrees and undertakes that they have satisfied themselves about the legality or enforceability thereof.
​
1.6. The Portal is not intended to facilitate application of any means of resolution to a dispute that is not permitted under applicable law in India, including without limitation the use of arbitration in relation to non-arbitrable disputes. By providing the use of the Portal for accessing the ODR Services in relation to an Active Dispute, BDR does not warrant the permissibility of the use of such means for resolution of the Active Dispute under applicable law. The User may access the Portal and the ODR Services in relation to resolution of an Active Dispute if the User believes that the same is permissible under applicable law. The following is an indicative list of matters that BDR  believes are ‘non-arbitrable’ in nature under applicable law:
​
1.6.1. relating to rights and liabilities which give rise to or arise out of criminal offences;
1.6.2. matrimonial disputes relating to divorce, judicial separation, restitution of conjugal rights, child custody;
1.6.3. guardianship matters;
1.6.4. insolvency or winding-up matters;
1.6.5. testamentary matters (relating to grant of probate, letters of administration or succession certificate);
1.6.6. arising out of a trust deed or the Indian Trusts Act, 1882;
1.6.7. anti-trust/competition laws;
1.6.8. fraud;
1.6.9. consumer disputes in which a party has approached the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
​
2. Eligibility, Restrictions and Undertakings
2.1. The User represents that it is either a body corporate duly incorporated under the laws of India or a citizen of India with capacity to contract under the laws of India. 
2.2. The User undertakes that the User has been allowed access to ODR Services on the Portal subject to the User undertaking not to do any of the following under any circumstances: 
2.2.1. use or attempt to use the systems of BDR by way of any automated means, or take any action that, in the view of BDR , causes or potentially may cause an unreasonable or disproportionate load on the servers or network infrastructure of BDR ; to clarify, the foregoing will not be applicable to any action taken by a User with the prior consent of BDR ;
2.2.2. bypass any computer program or system used by BDR that intended to distinguish human input from machine input, prevent spam or automated extraction of data, robot exclusion headers or other measures that restrict access to the ODR Services or data contained in the Website or the Portal, or use any software, technology, or device to scrape, spider, or crawl the Website, the Portal, or the systems of BDR  or harvest or manipulate data of BDR  or any users of the ODR Services; 
2.2.3. provide false, misleading, deceptive, fabricated or inaccurate evidence purposefully, testimony or witness statements or use the ODR Services for any unlawful or illegal purpose;
2.2.4. engage in communication or post any material on the Website or the Portal that is abusive, offensive, threatening, obscene, defamatory, casteist, sexist, pornographic, inciting violence, or otherwise victimises or intimidates an individual or group on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, caste, ethnicity, age, or disability, other than to the extent that such material constitutes an essential and indispensable part of the claims, pleadings or counter-claims of the User submitted in relation to an active Dispute;
2.2.5. use another user’s account on the Portal without permission or authorisation; to clarify, in the case of an institutional user with multiple accounts, all the accounts of the institutional user shall be deemed to be the accounts of the same user for the purpose of this clause;
2.2.6. provide false, fabricated, misleading, or inaccurate information during account registration;
2.2.7. destabilise, attempt to destabilise, interfere with or attempt to interfere with the proper functioning of the Portal or the ODR Services by using or accessing the Portal or the ODR Services through means other than what BDR has provided;
2.2.8. publish or link to malicious content intended to damage or disrupt another user’s browser or computer;
2.2.9. modify, translate, download, print, archive, display, adapt, enhance, decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, exploit commercially or otherwise, create derivative works from, make copies or create archives of the Website, the Portal or any content thereon for any purpose, except as explicitly permitted as part of the ODR Services made available in relation to the Active Dispute or as agreed with BDR ; to clarify, the foregoing will not be applicable to any action taken by a User with the prior consent of BDR ;
2.2.10. facilitate the use of the Website, the Portal or the ODR Services by or to the benefit of, any unauthorised third parties;
2.2.11. abuse, ‘stalk’, harm, threaten, impersonate, harass, deceive, any other person or entity through the use of the Portal, the Website or the ODR Services;
2.2.12. hack, infiltrate or otherwise seek to gain unauthorized access to, or compromise the integrity of, the Website or the Portal; 
2.2.13. breach or attempt to breach the security of software, network, servers, data, computers or other hardware relating to the Website or the Portal or that of any third party that is hosting or interfacing with any part of the Website, the Portal; 
2.2.14. Violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation. 
​
2.3. The User acknowledges and agrees that: 
​
2.3.1. the User is not aware of any ground to believe that it will derive any mala fide or illegitimate benefit by use of ODR Services, the Website or the Portal in relation to the active Dispute;
2.3.2. the User is solely liable to BDR for the service fees associated with the application or use of the ODR Services in relation to the active Dispute, regardless of any outcome of such application or use of the ODR Services;
2.3.3. the User shall make best endeavours to provide to BDR and any DRP appointed by BDR , all information, data, content, messages, graphics, drawings, sound and image files, photographs, recordings, software and, in general, whatever type of material as is sought by BDR  or the DRP in relation to the active Dispute, to the extent the same is available with the User in order to expedite the resolution of the Active Dispute;
2.3.4. the User has all the necessary equipment, systems, connectivity, resources, capabilities, understanding, competency, technological and other awareness to use the ODR Services in relation to the active Dispute in a fair, just and transparent manner;
2.3.5. BDR shall not be responsible for any malfunctions, errors, crashes or other adverse events that is solely attributable to the User’s use of the Website or the Portal;
2.3.6. the Website, the Portal, any software owned or developed or used by BDR (Software) in relation to the ODR Services and all right, title, and interest in such Website, Portal and software shall be the sole property of BDR and any licensors of BDR , if any;
2.3.7. the User’s use of, access to, the Website, the Portal, the Software, hereunder constitute a limited license from BDR to the User, to use the ODR Services made available on the Portal in relation to the Active Dispute as contemplated hereunder, and that the User has no other rights or interest in, or claim over the Website, the Portal, the Software or any other intellectual property of BDR whatsoever;
2.3.8. BDR does not solicit nor does it wish to receive any confidential, secret or proprietary information, personal data, or other material from the User through the Portal, by e-mail, or in any other way, which is not required for resolving an Active Dispute.  Any confidential, secret or proprietary information, personal data, any ideas, concepts, methods, systems, designs, plans, techniques or other similar materials submitted or sent by the User to BDR , in relation to an Active Dispute (User Content)through the Portal, by e-mail, or in any other way are subject to any applicable privacy obligations of BDR  under the PP or any separate written agreements entered into by BDR  with the User; BDR  does not review, filter, pre-screen, monitor, or otherwise edit User Content posted, or otherwise made available to any other person, on or through the Portal; however, BDR  reserves the right (but assumes no obligation) to, at its sole discretion, refuse, filter out, pre-screen, edit or remove any User Content, in whole or part, that, does not comply with these ToU, is illegal, or is otherwise undesirable or inappropriate from any members’ forum, public forum, message boards or comments sections on the Website or the Portal that can also be accessed by persons other than the User, BDR  and the DRPs;
2.3.9. All communications and evidence related to intake, case assessment, settlement discussions, negotiation and mediation conducted BDR , whether via the Platform itself or BDR initiated video hearings, phone calls or other discussions, will remain confidential in the interests of furthering settlement. The Parties further agree that neither party shall take any action that will harm the reputation of any of the other, or which would reasonably be expected to lead to unwanted or unfavourable publicity to either of the Parties or entities. This confidentiality clause does not apply to facts, communication, documentation or other information received or gathered outside of the BDR dispute resolution process. 
2.3.10. Without prejudice to any other rights of BDR, BDR may, at any time, limit, suspend, or revoke the User’s access to the Website, the Portal or the ODR Services if the User is in breach, or if BDR has reason to believe such User is in breach, of these ToU. BDR may change, add or remove any of the ODR Services or features available on the Portal, or may discontinue the Portal as a whole, at any time. However, BDR will not discontinue any feature or ODR Service for which a User has already paid Fees to BDR without mutual agreement with such User, unless BDR replaces such feature or ODR Service with a different feature or ODR Service that has the same effect as such discontinued feature or ODR Service under applicable law.
​
3. Indemnity
​
3.1. By agreeing to use the Portal, the User agrees to indemnify, defend and hold BDR , its affiliates, officers, directors and employees from any and all claims, liabilities, costs and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising in any way from the User’s use of the Website, the Portal, the ODR Services and any violation of these ToU by the User. 
4. No Liability for Lost Data
​
4.1. BDR  shall not be liable for any loss, deletion, removal, or failure of delivery (“Losses”) to the intended recipient of any User Content, whether caused by computer virus, unauthorised access, malicious attack or otherwise unless such Losses are solely attributable to BDR . The User is encouraged to retain a back-up copy of all User Content.
​
5. Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability
YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE AND THE PORTAL IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK, WHICH IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. WE AND OUR LICENSORS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, JUSTNESS, FAIRNESS, NEUTRALITY, VALIDITY OR USEFULNESS OF THE ODR SERVICES, ANY AWARD OR SETTLEMENT MADE BY ANY DRP, ANY OTHER SERVICE OR CONTENT PROVIDED BY BDR , AND YOU RELY ON THE ODR SERVICES, THE DRP ALLOCATED FOR AN ACTIVE DISPUTE AND OTHER SERVICE OR CONTENT OF BDR AT YOUR OWN RISK. ANY MATERIAL THAT YOU ACCESS OR OBTAIN THROUGH OUR SERVICES IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY MATERIAL THROUGH OUR SERVICES.  SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY PROHIBIT A DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS THAT VARY FROM JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE AND OUR LICENSORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY LOSSES OR DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF THE ODR SERVICES, THE PORTAL OR THE SERVICES OF THE DRP ALLOCATED TO YOUR DISPUTE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF BDR AND OUR LICENSORS OF ANY KIND ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTY CLAIMS), REGARDLESS OF THE FORUM AND REGARDLESS OF WHETHER ANY ACTION OR CLAIM IS BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE AMOUNTS, IF ANY, THAT YOU HAVE PAID TO US FOR YOUR USE OF THE ODR SERVICES IN RELATION TO THE ACTIVE DISPUTE TO WHICH SUCH LOSSESS OR DAMAGES RELATE.
6. Miscellaneous
6.1. These ToU may be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorised executive of BDR , or by the posting by BDR of a revised version of these ToU on the Website, provided that in case of a conflict between a provision of such revised ToU and any Specific Agreement, the Specific Agreement shall prevail to the extent of the conflict as between BDR and the User with whom such Specific Agreement has been executed by BDR
6.2. These ToU and any access to or use of the Website or the Portal will be governed by the laws of the Republic of India, including its conflict of law provisions. Any dispute arising under these ToU shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts at Bengaluru, India.
6.3. The User agrees that BDR may reference the User as its customer on the Website and in other marketing material of BDR .
6.4. The user agrees that BDR may record the option selected by him/her on the notice issued on the BDR ODR platform.
6.5. If any part of these ToU is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the original intent behind it, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of these ToU or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof.
6.6. The User may not assign their rights under these ToU to any other party without BDR ’s express written consent; BDR may assign its rights under these ToU without condition. These ToU will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties and their permitted assigns.