Mediation: Future of Dispute Resolution

Abstract

Disputes and its resolution are inevitable to mankind. Dilatory and expensive litigation process render justice which is like dehydrated peach and remedy provided is worse than the malady. Alternative Dispute Resolution system proposed as a via media of regular justice delivery system but it has been limited to arbitration. Arbitration in India has been run on conventional model of courts which could not yield desired result and after 2015, 2019 amendments in Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, one is skeptical whether it will fetch the desired result or not? Mediation and Conciliation though have been mistaken as one and not as separate branches of ADR. Mediation could not gain momentum. Mediation has largely been in India court-annexed. The notion that we cannot resolve our disputes and we need an authoritative court to resolve the same has been the real issue which did not let mediation and conciliation grow independently. Mediation and Conciliation has never been part of training of the bar and bench which has a natural training and inclination in adversarial justice dispensation process which is dilatory and expensive. Mediation Act, 2023 made an attempt to create the regulatory framework of mediation. Parliamentary Standing Committee submitted its report on bill in July, 2022. This is a new enactment which will be a breakthrough in dispute resolution in India. Mediation, Med Arb, Arb-med and Private Mediation can be a panacea for disposal and resolution of disputes between disputants. In this paper the author attempts to analyze the pros and cons of mediation and its roadmap in India.