MEDIATION BILL

The parliament's standing committee on law and justice has recommended substantial change to the Mediation Bill.

The bill focuses on strengthening the institutionalization of mediation and the establishment of the Mediation Council of India.

Mediation Bill

Objective

• The bill acknowledges the importance of institutes to train mediators, and service providers to provide structured mediation.
• To provide a body for the registration of mediators and to encourage community mediation.
• To make online mediation an acceptable and cost-effective process.
• To enforce the domestic and international mediation settlement agreements.
• It provides for enforcement of commercial settlement reached in the international mediation between parties from different countries, as per the Singapore Convention on Mediation, to which India was a notable signatory.

The main provisions of the bill

• Draft bill has proposed for pre-litigation mediation, it will also safeguard the interest of litigants to approach the competent adjudicatory court in case of urgent relief is required.
• The successful outcome of mediation in the form of a Mediation Settlement Agreement (MSA) has been made enforceable by law.
• The registration of MSA has also been provided with the State, District, and the Taluk legal authorities within 90 days.
• It will ensure the maintenance of authenticated records of the settlement.
• It will also provide for the establishment of the Mediation Council of India.
• It also provides for community mediation.

Qualification of Members

• Chairperson and full-time members must have the capacity, knowledge, and experience in the mediation.
• Even the people dealing with problems relating to Alternative Dispute Resolution can become members and Chairman of the council.

Panel recommendation

• The panel has shown cautioned against making pre-litigation mediation compulsory and warned the Center against the provision to give the higher court the power to frame rules for mediation.
• The panel has recommended that the compulsory provision of the pre-litigation should be offered as an option to those who are willing to mediate.
• Pre-litigation mediation should be introduced in a phased manner instead of introducing it with immediate effect for all civil and commercial cases.
• The appointment of the Chairperson and members of the Mediation Council should be made by a selection committee constituted by the Union Government.

Proper legislation shaped after discussion with the stakeholder will strengthen the bill and will help in providing a faster and cost-effective resolution to the needy one.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

• It refers to the method of resolving a dispute, which is an alternative for litigation in courts. It mainly includes resolution by a neutral third party, which helps the parties to communicate and resolve the dispute.

Different modes of Alternative Dispute Resolution

Mediation

• The mediator is impartial and helps the parties to reach a mutually accepted resolution of a dispute.
• They only help the parties to communicate so that they can solve their dispute by themselves.
• It leaves control of the outcome to the parties, whether to accept or not.

Conciliation

• It is a non-binding procedure where an impartial third party, assists the party in a dispute in reaching a mutually satisfactory agreed settlement.

Negotiation

• It is also a type or form of ADR for resolving any conflict. Here parties agree upon a course of action and bargain for advantage. It is the most common form of resolving a dispute and through this large number of disputes have been solved.

Arbitration

• It is less formal than the trial and even the evidence is often relaxed. There is no right to appeal an arbitrator’s decision. There is very little scope for judicial intervention in the arbitration process.