Chief Justice of India Surya Kant stresses on building a ‘mediation culture’ for resolving disputes amicably

Mediation is gaining greater acceptance as an effective tool for resolution of disputes and it will be even more beneficial if the judiciary promotes it on a bigger scale, says Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, while stressing the need for building a “mediation culture.”

Delivering the keynote address at a State-level symposium on ‘Mediation: Dialogue as Cornerstone of Justice’, organised by the AP State Legal Services Authority (APSLSA), here on Sunday, Justice Surya Kant said the process of mediation had a statutory backup in the Mediation Act of 2023, and the resolutions passed by the mediators were enforceable decrees.

He said that mediation emerged as a preferred mode of dispute resolution and it was no longer an alternative method, and noted that mediation would be of tremendous help in easing the burden on the conventional courts. The caseloads were reduced to some extent by special courts like the ones catering to family disputes.

Justice Surya Kant further said mediation was less costly and less time-consuming compared to arbitration and that it had become extremely popular in foreign countries. Like the Bench, the Bar Associations should also contribute to making people adopt mediation as a means to settling their disputes.

The temperament, conduct and integrity of mediators play a crucial role in the outcomes, he said, adding that Lord Krishna was perhaps the first known “codified mediator” who had tried to achieve a truce between two warring groups, whose refusal to bury the hatchet in spite of His (Lord Krishna’s) intervention, led to the Mahabharat War.

Also, he emphasised on the importance of professional mediators learning the nuances of the whole process of mediation for achieving the desired results.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said, from the mediation perspective, there was a lesson to be learnt from the way the government had successfully persuaded 29,000 farmers to give 33,000 acres for the development of the capital city Amaravati, pointing out that it was through consensus that land pooling had been done without much fuss.

He requested the CJI to consider establishing the National Judicial Academy in Amaravati and offered to give land in the Justice City (which is one of the nine thematic cities in Amaravati) for reputed legal institutions keen on coming to the greenfield capital city.

Rise in incentives

The Chief Minister announced an increase in the incentive given for a successful mediation from ₹3,000 to ₹10,000 and agreed to give ₹3,000 for unsuccessful cases upon a request made by Chief Justice of the A.P. High Court Dhiraj Singh Thakur.

Supreme Court Judges J.K. Maheswari, P.S. Narasimha, Prashant Kumar Mishra and S.V.N. Bhatti were among those present.