The 2023 law that creates a framework for institutional mediation in India, including voluntary pre-litigation mediation, enforceable mediated settlement agreements, online and community mediation, and a Mediation Council of India to regulate mediators and mediation service providers.
Indian courts face a backlog of more than five crore cases. Alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration, conciliation, Lok Adalats and mediation, is seen as a way to reduce delays and costs. Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure, added in 1999 and effective from 2002, allowed courts to refer disputes to ADR methods, and the Supreme Court in Salem Advocate Bar Association (2005) approved rules for court-annexed mediation. Mediation centres were set up in many High Courts and district courts, and the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 made pre-institution mediation mandatory for commercial disputes without urgent relief.
However, India lacked a comprehensive mediation law. The Supreme Court's committee in 2021 prepared a draft, and the government introduced the Mediation Bill in the Rajya Sabha in December 2021. After review by a parliamentary standing committee, the Bill was passed by both Houses in 2023. India also signed the Singapore Convention on Mediation in 2019, though it has not ratified it.
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