The court reaffirmed that pre-litigation mediation is mandatory unless a suit contemplates urgent interim relief under the Commercial Courts Act.

ORDER

Delay condoned. The application under Order VII, Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure , 1908¹, filed by the petitioner – Yamini Manohar, 1 For short, “the Code”. Digitally signed by SWETA BALODI Date: 2023.10.18 17:37:48 IST Reason:

Signature Not Verified defendant in C.S. (Comm.) No. 205/2022, has been rightly dismissed. 2. Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015,² reads: “12A. Pre-litigation Mediation and Settlement:— (1) A suit, which does not contemplate any urgent interim relief under this Act, shall not be instituted unless the plaintiff exhausts the remedy of pre-litigation mediation in accordance with such manner and procedure as may be prescribed by rules made by the Central Government. (2) For the purposes of pre-litigation mediation, the Central Government may, by notification, authorise— (i) the Authority, constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987); or (ii) a mediation service provider as defined under clause (m) of Section 3 of the Mediation Act, 2023. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987), the Authority or mediation service provider authorised by the Central Government under sub-section (2) shall complete the process of mediation within a period of one hundred and twenty days from the date of application made by the plaintiff under sub- section (1): Provided that the period of mediation may be extended for a further period of sixty days with the consent of the parties: Provided further that, the period during which the parties spent for pre-litigation mediation shall not be computed for the purposes of limitation under the Limitation Act, 1963 (36 of 1963). (4) If the parties to the commercial dispute arrive at a settlement, the same shall be reduced into writing and shall be signed by the parties and the mediator. (5) The mediated settlement agreement arrived at under this section shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of Sections 27 and 28 of the Mediation Act, 2023.” 3. This Court in “Patil Automation Private Limited and Ors. v. 2 For short, “the CC Act”. Rakheja Engineers Private Limited.”³ has held that Section 12A of the CC Act is mandatory. Pre-litigation mediation is necessary, unless the suit contemplates urgent interim relief. At the same time, the judgment observes: “100. In the cases before us, the suits do not contemplate urgent interim relief. As to what should happen in suits which do contemplate urgent interim relief or rather the meaning of the word ‘contemplate’ or urgent interim relief, we need not dwell upon it. The other aspect raised about the word ‘contemplate’ is that there can be attempts to bypass the statutory mediation under Section 12-A by contending that the plaintiff is contemplating urgent interim relief, which in reality, it is found to be without any basis. Section 80(2)CPC permits the suit to be filed where urgent interim relief is sought by seeking the leave of the court. The proviso to Section 80(2) contemplates that the court shall, if, after hearing the parties, is satisfied that no urgent or immediate relief need be granted in the suit, return the plaint for presentation to the court after compliance. Our attention is drawn to the fact that Section 12-A does not contemplate such a procedure. This is a matter which may engage attention of the lawmaker. Again, we reiterate that these are not issues which arise for our consideration. In the fact of the cases admittedly there is no urgent interim relief contemplated in the plaints in question.” The aforesaid paragraph refers to Section 80(2) of the Code, which permits the suit, praying urgent interim relief, to be filed by seeking the leave of the court. The proviso to Section 80(2) of the Code states that, if, after hearing the parties, the court is satisfied that no ur