The Mediation Act, 2023 — India's Legislative Turn Towards a Distinct Mediation Framework

Mediation as an International Movement

India's mediation legislation forms part of a much wider international development in the law and practice of consensual dispute resolution.

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has played an important role in this evolution. Its work began with the UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules, 1980, followed by the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation, 2002. In 2018, the Model Law was amended and renamed the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Mediation and International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation. UNCITRAL subsequently adopted the UNCITRAL Mediation Rules, 2021 and the UNCITRAL Notes on Mediation, 2021, further developing the international framework for mediation practice.

A major development was the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, commonly known as the Singapore Convention on Mediation. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 2018, the Convention opened for signature in Singapore on 7 August 2019 and entered into force on 12 September 2020. It provides an international framework for invoking and enforcing qualifying settlement agreements resulting from international commercial mediation.

India signed the Singapore Convention on 7 August 2019. As of September 2026, India remains a signatory but has not yet ratified the Convention. This remains significant because the Convention is intended to facilitate the cross-border recognition and enforcement of international commercial mediated settlement agreements.

Parallel developments have occurred across national and regional legal systems. The European Union Mediation Directive 2008/52/EC seeks to encourage mediation in cross-border civil and commercial disputes while ensuring a balanced relationship between mediation and judicial proceedings.

Singapore and Ireland both enacted dedicated Mediation Acts in 2017. Singapore's legislation addresses matters including mediation agreements, confidentiality and restrictions on disclosure, stays of court proceedings and the recording of mediated settlements as court orders. Ireland's legislation expressly conceptualises mediation as a confidential, facilitative and voluntary process and regulates matters including confidentiality and mediated settlements.

These developments reflect a wider shift in the understanding of dispute resolution. Mediation is increasingly recognised not merely as an informal alternative to litigation, but as a distinct professional and institutional field requiring legal frameworks, ethical standards, professional competence and credible institutions.

The Mediation Act, 2023: India's Legislative Turn

The Mediation Act, 2023 is India's first standalone central legislation devoted specifically to mediation. It received presidential assent on 14 September 2023 and was published in the Gazette of India on 15 September 2023. Its enacted framework addresses mediation agreements, pre-litigation mediation, court and tribunal referral, mediators, mediation procedure, confidentiality, mediated settlement agreements, online mediation, community mediation, mediation service providers, mediation institutes and the Mediation Council of India.

An important qualification is necessary. The Act has not yet been brought into force in its entirety.

Section 1(3) permits different provisions to commence on different dates. By Notification S.O. 4384(E), dated 9 October 2023, the Central Government brought into force sections 1, 3, 26, 31 to 38, 45 to 47, 50 to 54 and 56 to 57. Many of the principal substantive provisions governing the mediation process itself were not included in that notification.

Accordingly, the Mediation Act should presently be understood as a partially commenced statutory framework. The distinction between the architecture enacted by Parliament and the provisions presently in force is important when assessing India's evolving mediation regime.

The Architecture Enacted by Parliament

Taken as a whole, the Act as enacted provides for a broad mediation ecosystem. Its principal features include:

• Mediation agreements — a statutory framework for written agreements by which parties agree to submit disputes to mediation.
• Pre-litigation mediation — section 5 contemplates voluntary pre-litigation mediation based upon mutual consent before civil or commercial proceedings are instituted. Commercial disputes of specified value remain subject to the separate pre-institution mediation framework under section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015.
• Court and tribunal referral — the enacted framework permits courts and notified tribunals to refer appropriate disputes to mediation while preserving the principle that parties cannot be compelled to reach a settlement.
• Mediator appointment and process — provisions governing appointment, disclosure, conduct, procedure, timelines and termination of mediation.
• Confidentiality — statutory protection for mediation communications and the integrity of the mediation process.
• Mediated settlement agreements — provisions dealing with the form, registration, challenge and enforcement of settlements resulting from mediation.
• Online mediation — express recognition of mediation conducted through electronic and audio-visual means with party consent, subject to safeguards concerning integrity and confidentiality.
• Mediation Council of India — a national statutory body intended to promote mediation, regulate standards and support professional and institutional development.
• Mediation service providers and mediation institutes — an institutional framework for organisations providing mediation services, professional infrastructure and mediator education.
• Community mediation — a distinct mechanism for certain disputes affecting peace, harmony and tranquillity within a community. The Act also provides that a settlement under the community mediation chapter is not enforceable as a judgment or decree of a civil court.
• Integration with other laws — the enacted legislation contains consequential amendments intended to align the mediation framework with several existing enactments.

Several of these substantive provisions have not yet commenced. They should therefore be understood as part of the statutory architecture enacted by Parliament rather than as provisions already governing all mediations in India.

The Mediation Council of India

Sections 31 to 38 of the Mediation Act establish the statutory architecture of the Mediation Council of India. Unlike many of the substantive mediation provisions, these sections were brought into force on 9 October 2023.

The Act envisages the Council as the principal national institution responsible for the development and regulation of the mediation ecosystem. Section 38 assigns it a wide range of functions. These include promoting domestic and international mediation, developing India as a centre for mediation, establishing standards for the education, certification and assessment of mediators, providing for mediator registration, laying down professional and ethical standards, recognising mediation institutes and mediation service providers, promoting training and research, and maintaining an electronic depository of mediated settlement agreements.

Three sets of rules were notified on 13 June 2024 in preparation for the Council's institutional functioning:

• the Mediation Council of India (Salary, Allowances and other Terms and Conditions of Service of Chairperson and Members) Rules, 2024;
• the Mediation Council of India (Travelling and other Allowances for Part-time Chairperson and Part-time Members) Rules, 2024; and
• the Mediation Council of India (Forms and Manner of Annual Statement of Accounts) Rules, 2024.

A Major Development: Formal Establishment of the Council

A significant institutional milestone occurred on 27 August 2026.

By Notification S.O. 4781(E), issued under section 31(1) of the Mediation Act, 2023, the Central Government formally established the Mediation Council of India, with its head office at Delhi. The notification therefore moves the Council from statutory design to formal legal existence.

This is an important step in the implementation of the Mediation Act. It provides the statutory institutional foundation from which the Council can perform the regulatory, developmental and professional functions assigned to it under the Act.

The distinction between formal establishment and complete operationalisation, however, remains important. The notification of 27 August 2026 establishes the Council and identifies its head office. It does not, by itself, bring into force the substantive provisions of the Act that remain uncommenced, nor does the notification itself constitute the complete regulatory machinery contemplated by the legislation.

The present position is therefore best understood as one of progressive implementation. India has moved from enactment of a mediation statute, to partial commencement, to rule-making, and now to formal establishment of the Mediation Council of India. The wider statutory mediation regime nevertheless continues to require further commencement and institutional implementation.

Law Creates Architecture; Practice Creates Legitimacy

A statute can define mediation, create institutions, regulate procedures and provide legal consequences for mediated outcomes. It cannot, by itself, guarantee the quality of mediation practice.

The legitimacy of mediation ultimately depends upon what parties experience in the mediation process.

These questions move beyond statutory design. They concern the professional character, judgement and competence of the mediator.

This distinction is central to the HEART project. Professionalisation cannot be measured merely by the number of mediators trained, disputes referred or settlements recorded. A credible mediation profession requires sound formation, supervision, reflective practice, ethical clarity and reliable standards of competence.

Law can establish the architecture of mediation. Professional formation gives that architecture life.

From Statutory Infrastructure to Mediation Culture

The formal establishment of the Mediation Council of India marks an important transition from legislative architecture towards institutional implementation. The larger challenge is to translate statutory structures into competent practice, credible institutions and public trust.

A mature mediation ecosystem requires several forms of capacity working together:

• Professional capacity — mediators with communication skills, ethical judgement, process competence and the steadiness required to work constructively under pressure.
• Institutional capacity — mediation centres and service providers with sound administration, clear standards, referral systems, supervision and quality assurance.
• Legal capacity — lawyers and judges capable of recognising when mediation is appropriate and when adjudication or authoritative determination remains necessary.
• Public capacity — parties who understand mediation sufficiently to make informed decisions about participation, rather than experiencing mediation simply as another procedural requirement.
• Research capacity — systems that evaluate more than settlement rates. Meaningful assessment should also consider party experience, procedural integrity, quality, durability of outcomes, access, fairness and unintended consequences.

These capacities cannot be produced by legislation alone. They require professional education, institutional design, empirical research, transparent standards and sustained practice.

The HEART Perspective

From the HEART perspective, the Mediation Act, 2023 forms part of a larger transition from mediation as an occasional settlement mechanism to mediation as a recognised professional and institutional field.

The formal establishment of the Mediation Council of India in August 2026 strengthens that transition. The Council has the potential to influence professional standards, mediator education, institutional quality and the development of mediation practice across India.

Yet the long-term legitimacy of the mediation system will depend not merely upon regulation or institutional expansion. It will depend upon the quality of the mediators who work within that system.

Mediators must be capable of understanding conflict holistically, protecting and empowering party self-determination, adapting the process responsibly to the circumstances of each dispute, supporting rational and informed judgement, and remaining open to transformative possibilities without treating settlement as the sole measure of success.

The deeper challenge, therefore, is not simply to create more mediation.

It is to create better mediation through better-formed mediators.

Law can establish the architecture of mediation. The larger task is to build the professional competence, institutional strength and public confidence that make that architecture worthy of trust.

This version reflects the legal and institutional position as at 4 September 2026, including the formal establishment of the Mediation Council of India on 27 August 2026.