Recently, the Single bench headed by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the Delhi High Court directed the in-charge of Mediation Centres to ensure that the mediated settlement agreements are prepared in the Hindi language also.

“Concerned In-charge of Mediation Centres will ensure that the mediated settlement agreements are prepared in the Hindi language also, in addition to the English language, as far as possible”.

“This Court also remains conscious of the fact that the majority of litigants who approach this Court and the Courts below speak Hindi as their first language. Given that Hindi is their mother tongue, they are far more adept at speaking and understanding it than other languages such as English. However, the mediated settlement agreements in Delhi are drafted only in English. In such a scenario, the Settlement Agreement and the conditions thereof may not always be adequately clear to the parties, and at times, the translation from English to Hindi may not convey exactly what the parties intend to do”, the court said.

“However, in cases, the parties are well-versed in the English language and want the agreement to be in English language only, there will be no such insistence or requirement”, the court added.

The bench orally said that the aim of mediation is to resolve litigation and not to escalate it, therefore, it would be apt to ask both parties to bring their agreements in their own language even in skeletal form, which can help the mediator to ensure that none of the conditions is left out while preparing the final draft or agreement.

While hearing a case of matrimonial dispute, the court passed certain guidelines to be followed by the mediators in drafting a ‘Mediated Settlement Agreement”

“The lives of people embroiled in matrimonial litigation are often in state of turmoil, and thus, the mediation as a method of alternate dispute resolution has to come to their rescue instead of further extending the state of turmoil”, Justice Sharma said.

Furthermore, the court clarified that by the present judgment, it only aimed to ensure that challenges to such mediation agreements due to lack of clarity or missing out on the crucial aspects of the agreement are minimized.