Courtrooms have winners & losers, but mediation's healing: CJI

NEW DELHI: CJI Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday said courtroom adjudication is grim and shallow, as it results in a winner and a loser - a process that fails to heal strained relationships between parties. He contrasted this with mediation, which, he said, seeks to provide a holistic solution that restores relationships.

Speaking at the first National Mediation Conference inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu, CJI Khanna said 'community mediation' provision in the Mediation Act, 2023 is salutary as this can be an effective tool to resolve disputes that are likely to affect peace, harmony and tranquility among residents or families in a specific area or locality. "This is an important step forward," he said.

Justice Khanna said unfortunately mediation, which is ingrained in our civilisational history, is not mainstreamed and not first choice of parties to a dispute even though modern mediation tools can provide solution to litigants, which is unavailable in courtrooms.

"In courtroom adjudication, one party is right, the other is wrong. In this way, courtroom litigation and adjudication are grim and shallow. At times, the root cause remains unaddressed, and the ailment and pain remain. The relationships are strained, if not broken. There is a winner, there is a loser," he said.

In contrast, mediation seeks to identify and remedy the root cause with a process that delves deeper into the issue, the cause of the misunderstanding between the parties and attempts a holistic solution without getting mired in legal procedures to restore the relationship between parties, he added.

"Because process is voluntary and participatory, solution reached is less traumatic, more humane and acceptable," Justice Khanna said, adding that between 2016 and early 2025, a staggering 7,57,173 cases were settled using mediation.

Comparing the courtroom justice delivery mechanism and the mediation crafted resolution, CJI Khanna said while a judge attempts to find whois at fault among the litigants who advance their case through argumentative lawyers, a mediator goes beyond the binaries and attempts to resolve misunderstandings, which is often the mother of most litigations.

He said, "Mediation offers space by undoing complexity. It does not involve legal and procedural complexities. It is flexible and personalised, not bound by rigid procedure. And above all, it is empathetic - aiming not to win over the other side, but to bring together."

Mediator's neutrality is crucial to achieve resolution of a dispute, said Justrice Khanna, adding that "a skilled mediator senses not only what is being said, but what lies beneath the words."