Government Major Stumbling Block In Mediation, Officers Afraid Of Settling Cases : Justice Sandeep Mehta

Justice Sandeep Mehta of the Supreme Court observed that the government often emerges as the principal obstacle to mediation, as government officers are wary of making settlements even in cases which are fit for mediation. If the government officers shed this attitude, several minor cases could be settled through mediation, instead of burdening the Courts, he opined."A stumbling roadblock in mediation is the government. Experience of pre-litigation mediation sessions in National Lok Adalat is, sad, to say the least. Hardly a single department of government comes forward with a positive response. Officers are afraid to give any kind of commitment lest they face the flak for compromising at a later stage. If this is changed, a large number of petty disputes - like pension matters, medical reimbursement matters etc. - can be resolved", he said.The judge was speaking at the 1st Supreme Court Bar Association National Conference on 'Reimagining Judicial Governance: Strengthening Institutions for Democratic Justice'. Besides Justice Mehta, Justice Vikram Nath, Attorney General R Venkataramani, Senior Advocate Sriram Panchu (renowned mediator), and Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi graced the occasion.In his address, highlighting how judges can play a proactive role in settling cases through mediation, te judge recalled two incidents he experienced as a High Court judge, which changed his perspective about mediation.First, Justice Mehta spoke about a matrimonial dispute in a family which had undergone 3-4 unsuccessful rounds of mediation. The parties had 11 cases pending between them and the wife was demanding a small house as well as a lumpsum amount. The husband was resisting the wife's suggestion to give her a small apartment he owned. In this backdrop, Justice Mehta recalled that he "showed the husband the mirror" by asking him to come back with a list of expenses made on lawyers' fees etc. in the 9 years of litigation with the wife.The judge mentioned that the husband confessed to having spent more than what the small apartment was worth. Eventually, the judge convinced the wife to scale down her demand of Rs.25 lakhs, and the matter was resolved. "Efforts of mediation will never fail if you're able to show mirror to the parties and convince them of what they are losing not just in terms of money, time and effort, but also opportunity", Justice Mehta said.The second incident, as recalled by the judge, pertained to an anticipatory bail application by the husband, where the wife was demanding Rs.80 lakhs and all efforts at mediation were unsuccessful. Justice Mehta said that when the parties came before him, he showed them a picture of what the future of their litigation would be like - the wife would get tormented and fight the Section 498A IPC case for about 10 years, while the husband would get out on bail.In 2 hours, he recalled, the parties discussed and came back. The wife said that she did not want anything, except her original documents (which were with the husband) and divorce in 1 week. "That is to say, if lawyers provide a true picture of litigation at the initial stage, chances of mediation succeeding will increase manifold", the judge emphasised.Related- Justice Nagarathna Flags Paradox Of Govt Raising Concerns About Case Pendency While Contributing Most To Arrears

Government Major Stumbling Block In Mediation, Officers Afraid Of Settling Cases : Justice Sandeep Mehta

Debby Jain

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