Rajya Sabha Mediation Bill referred to Committee
New Delhi India January 28 ANI The Mediation Bill, 2021'' has been referred to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice for an examination and report, said the Rajya Sabha Secretariat on Friday.
The Bill proposes to encourage and promote institutional mediation for resolution of disputes.
The Committee has decided to invite Memoranda with views from concerned stakeholders interested in the subject matter to have a wider consultation on the Bill, according to the statement.
A copy of the Bill, along with other details, is available on the Rajya Sabha's website under the link 'Bills with the Committee'.
Those who wish to send the Memoranda to the Committee have been asked to send it electronically to Goutam Kumar, Deputy Secretary, Rajya Sabha Secretariat at rs-memocpers sansad.nic. Those who want to appear before the Committee for tendering oral evidence have been asked to express their intention by providing memoranda. The decision of the Committee in this regard will be final, it stated.
During the winter session of Parliament in December of last year, the Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha and the government moved it for further consideration in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice on demand of Opposition parties.
On November 5th this year, the Ministry of Law and Justice released a draft of the Mediation Bill, 2021, for public comments and consultation.
After India signed the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation Singapore Convention, the Bill looks to cement the position of mediation as a sought-after method of dispute resolution in India.
Its goals include the promotion, encouragement and facilitation of mediation, especially institutional mediation, enforcement of domestic and international mediation settlement agreements, and notably, making online mediation an acceptable and cost-effective process.
The Bill is divided into four parts with Part I dealing with domestic mediations and Part III dealing with mediations under the Singapore Convention.
As per Section 2 of the Bill, domestic mediation is defined as a process in India in which all or both parties habitually reside in or have their business in India.
The Mediation Act, 2021, provides that the Mediation Act would apply to the mediation, or the mediation would be international mediation.
A salient feature of the Bill is the adoption of the international practice of using the terms'mediation' and 'conciliation' interchangeably, as evidenced by the meaning of mediation set out under Section 4.
A'mediation service provider' is defined as a body or organization that provides for the conduct of mediation and has in place procedures and rules to govern the conduct of the mediation in conformity with the provisions of the statute. Lok Adalats constituted under the 1987 National Legal Services Authorities Act, and mediation centres annexed to courts have also been included under this head.