Salient Features Of India's New Mediation Law

INTRODUCTION

While mediation as a means of dispute resolution was always ingrained in Indian jurisprudence, the parliament for the first time has attempted to streamline mediation and legitimize its increasing relevance in the life of a dispute, by codifying mediation as a process of alternate dispute resolution. The Mediation Bill 2021 ("Bill") was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 20 December 2021 with the objective to promote and facilitate mediation, especially institutional mediation, for resolution of disputes, commercial or otherwise, enforce mediated settlement agreements, provide for a body for registration of mediators, encourage community mediation and make online mediation an acceptable and cost-effective process. The Bill finally came to be passed by Rajya Sabha on 1 August 2023 and thereafter by the Lok Sabha on 7 August 2023. On 14 September 2023, the President of India gave her assent, and the Mediation Act, 2023 ("Act") came into being.