Consumer Court Mediation: Your 5-Day Consent Window

You finally got your consumer complaint admitted, you turned up for the first hearing expecting the company to be asked some hard questions, and instead the Commission suggested mediation. That is not a brush-off and it is not compulsory. It is section 37 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and it puts a five day clock on a decision that is entirely yours to make.

1. The suggestion. Section 37(1): at the first hearing after admission, or at any later stage, if it appears to the District Commission that there exist elements of a settlement which may be acceptable to the parties, it may direct the parties to give consent to mediation. There is a carve-out for cases that may be prescribed.
2. Your five days. Section 37(1) requires that consent to be given in writing, within five days. Silence is not consent, and the direction is to give consent, not to mediate.
3. The referral, also five days. Section 37(2): where the parties agree and give consent in writing, the Commission shall, within five days of receipt of such consent, refer the matter for mediation.
4. Where it happens. Section 79(1): the mediation shall be held in the consumer mediation cell attached to the District, State or National Commission, as the case may be. Not in the opposite party's office, and not over a phone call.
5. The outcome, written and signed. Section 80(1): if agreement is reached on all or only some of the issues, the terms shall be reduced to writing and signed by the parties or their authorised representatives. Section 80(2): the mediator prepares a settlement report and forwards it with the signed agreement to the Commission.
6. Seven days to an order. Section 81(1): the Commission shall, within seven days of the receipt of the settlement report, pass suitable order recording such settlement and dispose of the matter accordingly.

That last step is what makes the whole thing worth doing. A mediated settlement in this framework does not stay a private promise. It becomes an order of the Commission.

Nothing bad, and nothing is lost. The statute is explicit at both exits.

Section 80(3): where no agreement is reached within the specified time, or the mediator is of the opinion that settlement is not possible, he prepares his report and submits it to the Commission.

Section 81(3): where the consumer dispute could not be settled by mediation, the Commission shall continue to hear all the issues involved. Section 38(1) says the same thing from the other direction, providing for the Commission to proceed with a complaint in respect of cases referred for mediation on failure of settlement.

And a partial settlement is a real option rather than an all-or-nothing gamble. Section 81(2): where the dispute is settled only in part, the Commission records the settlement of the issues so settled and continues to hear the other issues. If the company will refund the money but will not pay compensation, you can bank the refund and keep arguing about the rest.

This is the part almost nobody uses, and it is where a consumer dispute meets the Right to Information Act.

Section 74(1) requires the State Government to establish, by notification, a consumer mediation cell attached to each District Commission and State Commission in that State. Section 74(2) requires the Central Government to do the same for the National Commission and each of its regional Benches.

Section 74(4) then tells you exactly what every cell must hold:

Section 74(5) adds a reporting duty: every cell shall submit a quarterly report to the District, State or National Commission to which it is attached, in the manner specified by regulations.

Those are documents held by a public authority. That is the whole test under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Section 75(1) says the panel of mediators is prepared by the Commission itself, on the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of the President and a member of that Commission, and maintained by the mediation cell attached to it. Section 75(3) makes the panel valid for five years, with re-empanelment possible.

Section 75(2) leaves the qualifications, the empanelment procedure, the training, the fee payable to the mediator, the code of conduct and the grounds and manner of removal to regulations. So the fee is not in the Act. Ask which regulation fixes it before you agree to anything.

Two protections sit on top:

• Section 77, disclosure. It is the duty of the mediator to disclose any personal, professional or financial interest in the outcome of the dispute, and any circumstances which may give rise to a justifiable doubt as to his independence or impartiality.
• Section 78, replacement. Where the Commission is satisfied, on information from the mediator or from any other person including the parties, and after hearing the mediator, it shall replace that mediator with another.

Section 76 requires the Commission, when nominating from the panel, to consider the mediator's suitability for resolving the consumer dispute involved. And section 79(2) requires the mediator to have regard to the rights and obligations of the parties, the usages of trade, and the circumstances giving rise to the dispute, and to be guided by the principles of natural justice.

Mediation stalls in ordinary ways: no date is fixed, the settlement report never reaches the Commission, or the seven day order under section 81(1) never issues. Ask for records rather than for action.

1. A copy of the notification issued under section 74 of the Consumer
   Protection Act, 2019 establishing the consumer mediation cell
   attached to this Commission.
2. A copy of the list of empanelled mediators maintained under
   section 74(4)(a), and the date on which the current panel was
   prepared under section 75(1).
3. A copy of the quarterly reports submitted by the cell under
   section 74(5) for the last four quarters.
4. In respect of complaint no. ......... , the date on which consent
   under section 37(1) was received, the date of referral under
   section 37(2), and the date on which the settlement report under
   section 80(2) was received by the Commission.
5. A copy of the regulation fixing the fee payable to an empanelled
   mediator under section 75(2).

The addressee is the Public Information Officer of the Commission concerned. Watch the thirty day limit in section 7 of the RTI Act: on a live complaint that clock is often shorter than the next hearing date, which is what makes the application worth filing early rather than after the mediation collapses. If drafting is the obstacle, the AI RTI Drafter and the RTI Timeline Calculator cover the form and the dates; the PIO Reply Checker is for the reply that says a lot and answers nothing, and the First Appeal Builder for the reply that never comes. Longer term, The RTI Playbook is the escalation reference.

Yes. Section 37(1) directs the parties to give consent in writing within five days, and section 37(2) only allows referral where the parties agree for settlement by mediation and give their consent in writing. If you do not consent, the complaint continues to be heard, and section 81(3) confirms that the Commission hears all the issues where the dispute could not be settled by mediation.

It resumes. Section 80(3) requires the mediator to report a failure to the Commission, and section 81(3) requires the Commission to continue hearing all the issues. Nothing you said in mediation converts into an admission in the complaint, and no separate fresh filing is needed.

It becomes an order. Section 80(1) requires the agreed terms to be reduced to writing and signed, and section 81(1) requires the Commission to pass a suitable order recording the settlement within seven days of receiving the settlement report, and to dispose of the matter accordingly.

Yes, and the Act plans for it. Section 80(1) expressly covers agreement on only some of the issues, and section 81(2) requires the Commission to record the settled issues and continue hearing the rest.

The Act does not say. Section 75(2) leaves the fee payable to an empanelled mediator to regulations, along with qualifications, training and the code of conduct. Ask the mediation cell which regulation fixes the fee, in writing, before the first session.

Section 77 puts a positive duty on the mediator to disclose any personal, professional or financial interest in the outcome and any circumstance raising a justifiable doubt about independence or impartiality. Section 78 lets the Commission replace a mediator on information from any person, including you, after hearing the mediator.

• The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, sections 37, 38, and Chapter V, sections 74 to 81. Full text on India Code at indiacode.gov.in
• The Right to Information Act, 2005, sections 6 and 7, full text at RTI Act 2005 on RTI Wiki

• How to file a consumer court case in India
• Consumer forum complaint on e-Jagriti: DCDRC, SCDRC, NCDRC
• Consumer court appeal: State or National Commission
• Mediation settlement not complied? Enforce it
• Pre-litigation mediation under the Mediation Act 2023
• Consumer rights in India: where to complain

Reviewed by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak. This page is general legal information, not legal advice. Statutory text quoted from the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 as published on India Code. Matters left to rules and regulations, including the mediator fee and the classes of case excluded from referral under section 37(1), were not verified here, so ask the Commission for the applicable regulation.