At the 2nd National Mediation Conference on “Enhancing the Eco-System for Mediation in India,” Supreme Court judge Justice BV Nagarathna emphasized the urgent need to extend the scope of mediation in India beyond the traditional domain of commercial disputes. She identified environment, healthcare, intellectual property, corporate governance, public contracts, and matters under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act) as areas where mediation can play a transformative role.
Justice Nagarathna strongly endorsed the adoption of victim-offender mediation (VOM) under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, to advance the principles of restorative justice.
She noted that children in conflict with law require care, protection, and reintegration, not punitive treatment. VOM, she said, allows victims to articulate the harm they suffered, while enabling juvenile offenders to recognize the consequences of their actions, take responsibility, and express remorse — outcomes that retributive punishment cannot achieve.
She called for the development of a national curriculum for mediator training in juvenile cases, stressing that mediators must be trauma-informed and trained in child psychology.
Mediation in Government Disputes
Justice Nagarathna welcomed the Ministry of Finance’s Office Memorandum on arbitration and mediation in domestic public procurement contracts but cautioned against the entrenched tendency of government bodies to pursue litigation endlessly.
She observed that exhausting judicial remedies in hopeless cases wastes public resources and judicial time:
“For any radical improvement in government-led dispute resolution… there is an impending need to transform this outlook.”
Green Mediation for Environmental Conflicts
The judge proposed the creation of a specialised panel of accredited “green mediators” under the Mediation Council of India. These mediators, trained in environmental law, climate science, public policy, and socio-economic impact, could handle complex ecological disputes.
Drawing parallels with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental conflict resolution model, she suggested that settlements in such disputes should go beyond compensation to include measures like habitat restoration, joint monitoring, or community benefit-sharing.
Mediation in Healthcare, IP, and Corporate Disputes
• Healthcare: Justice Nagarathna stressed the need to address structural imbalances between patients and powerful medical institutions. She recommended integrating Patient Advocacy Groups into mediation to amplify patient voices.
• Intellectual Property: She highlighted mediation’s confidentiality and flexibility, allowing creative solutions like coexistence agreements, phased rebranding, licensing, or joint marketing, which litigation cannot provide.
• Corporate & Start-Ups: Mediation clauses, she said, should be standard in Founders Agreements, Shareholder Agreements, and Term Sheets to quickly resolve disputes without jeopardizing reputation or business survival.
Citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Patil Automation Pvt Ltd v. Rakheja Engineers Pvt Ltd (2022), Justice Nagarathna urged the legal community to embrace mediation as a “powerful first resort” rather than a fallback option, in order to overcome litigation’s crippling costs, procedural delays, and adversarial rigidity.
The Conference was organised by the Office of the Advocate General for Odisha and the Department of Law, Government of Odisha.
