Recently, the Supreme Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the implementation of mandatory pre-litigation mediation in specific cases such as commercial disputes, partition suits, and probation petitions. The PIL had additionally sought the establishment of guidelines or a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to facilitate the process of pre-litigation mediation.

The bench consist of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra while dismissing the PIL observed:

“Provisions for pre-litigation conciliation and settlement are contained in Chapter VIA of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987. Chapter IIIA of the Commercial Courts Act 2015 which incorporates Section 12A provides for pre-institution mediation and settlement. That apart, the attention of the Court has been drawn to the fact that the Mediation Bill 2023 was passed on 1 August 2023 by the Rajya Sabha and 7 August 2023 by the Lok Sabha.

In this backdrop, it is not necessary for this Court to entertain the petition under Article 32 since, in any event, many of the reliefs which have been sought essentially pertain to the legislative domain.”

The Court noted that provisions for pre-litigation conciliation and settlement were already in place under the Legal Services Authorities Act of 1987. Furthermore, the Commercial Courts Act of 2015 also included provisions for pre-institution mediation and settlement. As a result, the Court deemed it unnecessary to consider the requested reliefs.

Additionally, the Court pointed out that the matter discussed in the PIL aligns with the Mediation Bill of 2023, which has already been approved by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The Court further recognized that certain aspects of the PIL fell within the legislative sphere and did not necessitate the exercise of the Court's writ jurisdiction.

Case Title: Youth Bar Association of India V. Union Of India, Writ Petition(Civil) No.849/2020