The Mediation Act, 2023 — one year on.
A practitioner's reading of the institutional shifts, the gaps in enforcement, and where the Act has quietly succeeded outside the headlines.
A year is short for legislation of this scope. But certain patterns have already settled. Pre-litigation mediation referrals have risen meaningfully, and enforcement of settled agreements through the civil-court process has, in our experience, become routine.
Where the Act has quietly succeeded is in shifting the default. Counsel now considers mediation as a first option rather than a fallback. That cultural shift is, in the long run, more important than any procedural provision.
Where it still has work to do: the registration regime for mediators remains uneven across states, and institutional mediation centres are unevenly resourced. These are remediable. The harder cultural work has begun.