Mediation offers path to transform discord into dialogue: CJI Gavai

Mediation and open communication offer a path to transform discord into dialogue, turning tension into collaboration and restoring harmony between parties, Chief Justice of India BR Gavai has said.

Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day National Mediation Conference in Bhubaneswar last evening, the CJI said when approached constructively, mediation can become an opportunity for growth and understanding.

“I would like to say that it is not the mere existence of a quarrel or disagreement that disturbs our peace, but the refusal to listen, empathise, and make a genuine effort to resolve it. Conflict, when approached constructively, can become an opportunity for growth and understanding,” CJI Gavai said.

Noting that the practice of mediation continued in different societies for ages, the CJI said that it got recognition through the enactment of The Mediation Act, 2023.

The Act ensures justice that is participatory, equitable, and accessible, while also helping reduce the ever-growing pendency of cases before courts, Justice Gavai said.

Justice Surya Kant—who is to succeed Justice Gavai as the next CJI in November—said mediation “subtracts bitterness, divides burdens, and adds hope to the broken equations of human relationships.”

He said, “Our elders once gathered beneath the banyan tree to resolve disputes in pursuit of restored harmony. The Mediation Act of 2023 carries that spirit into our time.”

“If trials deliver verdicts, mediation delivers futures, and the true measure of justice will lie not in cases decided, but in the peace it creates,” said Justice Kant, who is also the chairperson of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee.