Mandatory Pre-Litigation Mediation Under Section 12A From Legislative Intent To Judicial Finality

Introduction

The contemporary world's desire for profit and comfort, along with the growing eagerness to fulfil them, has led to many new businesses sprouting across the spectrum from large corporations and mid-sized enterprises to small firms and gig economy participants. With the ever-increasing sophistication of operations of businesses, a new cultural norm of trust has emerged in the commercial dealings between them, resulting in different businesses being able to interact and strengthen their ties for providing further aid to each other in future commercial endeavours. This has had the inadvertent consequences of parties being encouraged to prefer consensual dispute resolution mechanisms such as mediation over conventional litigation to safeguard their interests. This shift is notably advantageous for commercial entities as it enables dispute resolution with negligible harm to ongoing business relationships, while ensuring confidentiality in their operations and