The Mediation Act 2023: The Whole Scheme, and How Much of It Is Actually in Force
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Syllabus topic 3.3, "Mediation"
Pages 297 to 303 of 377
In one line
India now has a standalone mediation statute, and the part of it that actually does the mediating has never been brought into force.
In exam wording: the Mediation Act 2023, Act 32 of 2023, received assent on 14 September 2023 and provides a comprehensive framework for mediation in India; by notification S.O. 4384(E) dated 9 October 2023 only certain of its provisions were brought into force under section 1(3).
Start with the commencement, because everything depends on it
This is the most important paragraph in Module III, and almost every free set of notes on this subject gets it wrong.
Section 1(3) provides that the Act shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint, and that different dates may be appointed for different provisions.
The footnote to that sub-section in the consolidated text records the whole of what has been done:
9th day of October, 2023, vide notification No. S.O. 4384(E), for Ss.1, 3, 26, Ss.31 to 38 (both inclusive), Ss. 45 to 47 (both inclusive), Ss. 50 to 54 (both inclusive), and Ss.56 to 57 (both inclusive), dated 9th October, 2023, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii).
Set that list against the Act's own arrangement of sections and see what is missing:
| In force | Not in force |
|---|---|
| 1 short title and commencement | 2 application |
| 3 definitions | 4 to 25: the mediation agreement, pre-litigation mediation, disputes not fit for mediation, reference by a court, appointment and conduct, the mediated settlement agreement, confidentiality, termination and costs |
| 26 Lok Adalat proceedings not affected | 27 to 30: enforcement, challenge, limitation, online mediation |
| 31 to 38 the Mediation Council | 39 to 44: monitoring, mediation service providers, institutes, community mediation |
| 45 to 47, 50 to 54, 56, 57 the Fund, accounts, directions, rules, regulations, transitional | 48, 49, 55, 58 to 65: schemes, Government settlements, amendments to other Acts |
So sections 4 to 25 are not in force, and they are the subject. That is the mediation agreement, pre-litigation mediation (s.5), disputes not fit for mediation (s.6), reference by a court (s.7), the appointment and conduct provisions (ss.8 to 18), the mediated settlement agreement (s.19), confidentiality (s.22), and termination and costs (ss.24, 25). Sections 27 to 30, enforcement, challenge, limitation and online mediation, are not in force either.
What is in force is the institutional half: the definitions, and the Mediation Council with its Fund, rules and regulations.
The Government's own confirmation
The consolidated print is dated "as on the 6th October, 2025", so it cannot by itself prove the position today. Two answers in Parliament, four months more recent, do.
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