Pre-Litigation Mediation Under the Mediation Act 2023

You can try to settle a civil or commercial dispute through mediation before you ever file a suit, and once both sides sign the settlement it is final, binding, and enforceable like a court decree. This is called pre-litigation mediation under the Mediation Act 2023 (Act 32 of 2023). It is voluntary for ordinary civil disputes, but for high-value commercial disputes it is a mandatory first step under section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act 2015.

Short on time? Jump to the numbered steps below. The key deadline is that mediation must finish within 120 days, extendable by 60 more days.

Courts in India are crowded and a suit can run for years. Mediation lets you and the other party work out your own settlement with a neutral mediator. The mediator does not decide the case or impose anything. They only help both sides reach an agreement they both accept.

Say a builder and a flat-buyer disagree over a delayed possession refund. Instead of filing a suit straight away, they can attempt pre-litigation mediation. If they settle, the written agreement is enforceable like a decree. If they do not, the mediator issues a non-settlement report and they are free to litigate.

Note: a mediated settlement is a deal the parties craft themselves. That separates mediation from arbitration, where an arbitrator hears the dispute and imposes a binding award, and from a Lok Adalat, where a panel helps the parties settle and records it as a Lok Adalat award. All three end in something decree-like, but only mediation leaves the outcome fully in the parties hands.

For an ordinary civil dispute, pre-litigation mediation is voluntary. Section 5(1) of the Mediation Act 2023 says parties “may voluntarily and with mutual consent take steps to settle the disputes by pre-litigation mediation”. You do not even need a prior mediation agreement. For a commercial dispute of Specified Value, it is mandatory: the proviso to section 5(1) routes such disputes to section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act 2015 (see below).

Under section 5(3), the mediator must be registered with the Mediation Council of India, empanelled by a court-annexed mediation centre, empanelled by a Legal Services Authority under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987, or empanelled by a recognised mediation service provider. You can ask the High Court or your District or State Legal Services Authority to designate one from their panel.

Once a mediator is appointed, a first date is fixed for the parties to appear. The mediator runs the sessions and helps you explore a settlement. Anything said in mediation stays confidential and cannot be used as evidence later if the talks fail.

If you reach a deal, the terms are put in a written mediated settlement agreement, signed by the parties and authenticated by the mediator. Under section 19, the agreement can even cover disputes beyond the ones first referred to mediation, if both sides agree.

Section 20 lets you register the agreement with a Legal Services Authority or other notified body within 180 days. It is not compulsory, but registration gives you a record and a registration number if you ever need to prove the agreement.

If the other party does not honour the settlement, you do not re-fight the dispute. You file to enforce it. Section 27 makes the agreement “final and binding” and enforceable under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 “in the same manner as if it were a judgment or decree passed by a court”.

For commercial disputes, mediation is not a choice. Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act 2015 says a suit that does not contemplate urgent interim relief “shall not be instituted unless the plaintiff exhausts the remedy of pre-institution mediation”.

This applies to commercial disputes of Specified Value. Specified Value is currently not less than ₹3 lakh (lowered from ₹1 crore by the 2018 amendment). So a commercial money suit of ₹3 lakh or more generally cannot be filed until pre-institution mediation has been tried.

The one exception: if you genuinely need urgent interim relief, such as an injunction, you may file the suit directly. The Supreme Court in Patil Automation Pvt Ltd v Rakheja Engineers Pvt Ltd (2022) held that section 12A is mandatory and a non-urgent suit filed without mediation can be rejected. The urgency must be real, not a device to skip mediation.

A signed, authenticated mediated settlement agreement is enforceable like a court decree under section 27, and you can rely on it as a defence, set-off, or claim. It is not, however, beyond challenge. Section 28 lets a party challenge it only on narrow grounds, mainly fraud, corruption, impersonation, or where the dispute was not fit for mediation, and only within a limited time window. The settlement is durable but not absolutely final.

On timing, section 18 requires mediation to be “completed within a period of one hundred and twenty days from the date fixed for the first appearance before the mediator”, extendable “for a further period as agreed by the parties, but not exceeding sixty days”. That is 120 days plus up to 60, so 180 at most.

Your most affordable routes are the Legal Services Authorities and court-annexed mediation centres. District and State Legal Services Authorities run mediation panels and offer free or low-cost help, especially for those who qualify for free legal aid.

Private and institutional mediation service providers also conduct mediation, where you negotiate the mediator fee, usually shared between the parties under section 25. If cost is a concern, start with your District Legal Services Authority, found through the National Legal Services Authority network.

It depends on the dispute. For ordinary civil disputes it is voluntary under section 5 of the Mediation Act 2023. For commercial disputes of Specified Value (₹3 lakh or more), it is mandatory under section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act 2015, unless the suit needs urgent interim relief.

Yes. Under section 27 of the Mediation Act 2023, a settlement signed by the parties and authenticated by the mediator is final, binding, and enforceable under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, in the same manner as a judgment or decree of a court.

Section 18 requires mediation to finish within 120 days from the date fixed for the first appearance. The parties can extend it by up to 60 more days by mutual agreement, so 180 days is the outer limit.

The mediator issues a non-settlement report under section 21. You are then free to file your suit. For commercial disputes, this report shows you tried pre-institution mediation as section 12A requires.

Yes, for commercial disputes. Section 12A applies only to suits that do not contemplate urgent interim relief. If you genuinely need an urgent injunction or other interim order, you can file directly. But the urgency must be real, not a tactic to bypass mediation.

In mediation the parties craft their own settlement and the mediator only facilitates. In arbitration an arbitrator imposes a binding award. In a Lok Adalat a panel helps the parties settle and records it as a Lok Adalat award. Mediation keeps the outcome fully in the parties control.

• Identify your dispute type: ordinary civil (voluntary mediation) or commercial of ₹3 lakh or more (mandatory under section 12A).
• Locate your District or State Legal Services Authority through the National Legal Services Authority website.
• Write down what outcome you would accept, so you walk into mediation with a clear settlement range.
• If your dispute is commercial and not urgent, do not file suit yet. Start pre-institution mediation first to avoid rejection.

• Mediation Act 2023 (Act 32 of 2023), sections 5, 18, 19, 20, 27 and 28 full text on India Code.
• Commercial Courts Act 2015, section 12A (pre-institution mediation) and section 2(1)(i) (Specified Value).
• Patil Automation Pvt Ltd v Rakheja Engineers Pvt Ltd (2022), Supreme Court of India.

Read the The RTI Playbook for plain-language guidance on using your information and dispute-resolution rights. You can also read the full RTI Act, 2005 and browse our RTI case database for related rulings.

Maintained by the RTI Wiki editorial team. Reviewed June 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. For your specific dispute, consult a mediator or your local Legal Services Authority.