[ By Bobby Anthony ]The Supreme Court has set up a panel to finalize a draft legislation to give legal sanctity to disputes settled through mediation.The final draft of the legislation will be sent to the government in the form of a suggestion by the Supreme Court.The SC panel, which is to be headed by mediator Niranjan Bhat, will recommend a code of conduct for mediators, who are...
The Supreme Court has set up a panel to finalize a draft legislation to give legal sanctity to disputes settled through mediation.
The final draft of the legislation will be sent to the government in the form of a suggestion by the Supreme Court.
The SC panel, which is to be headed by mediator Niranjan Bhat, will recommend a code of conduct for mediators, who are legal experts.
The Chief Justice of India suggested that the Parliament should consider enacting legislation to give mediation the status of a decree.
He stated that there is already a provision in the Lok Adalat Act where a settlement before a Lok Adalat is enforceable as a court decree. Such an agreement between two parties arrived at the stage of pre-mediation litigation could have the force of a decree, he said.
The committee has also roped in international experts on mediation like Hiro Aragaki and Joel Lee, who are experts on alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
It may be recalled that a group of professionals in mediation, which includes CAMP Bangalore, FCDR-Chennai, Maadhyam Delhi, retired judges, senior partners of law firms and academicians from leading national and international universities had recently submitted its recommendation to the ministry of law and justice for a comprehensive legislation.