Section 57 of Mediation Act 2023 - Transitory Provision

Section 57 of the Mediation Act, 2023 is a transitory provision for court-annexed mediation. It preserves the rules already governing court-annexed mediation until regulations are made under Section 15(1), and separately protects those rules for court-annexed mediations that are pending when the new regulations come into force.

Statutory Text of Section 57

Meaning and Purpose of Section 57

A transitory provision is a provision intended to manage the change from an existing legal or procedural framework to a new statutory framework. Section 57 prevents a procedural vacuum in court-annexed mediation by continuing the existing rules until the contemplated regulations are made.

Existing court-annexed mediation rules continue

The first part of Section 57 states that the rules already in force for conducting court-annexed mediation continue to apply until regulations are made under Section 15(1). This preserves continuity in the conduct of such mediations during the transition contemplated by the Act.

Pending court-annexed mediations are protected

The proviso goes further. Even after the relevant regulations come into force, the existing rules continue to govern every court-annexed mediation that was pending on the date those regulations came into force. The provision therefore avoids changing the procedural rules midway through a pending court-annexed mediation.

Relationship with Section 15(1)

Section 57 expressly refers to Section 15(1), which concerns the conduct of mediation. The transition under Section 57 is tied to regulations contemplated under that provision. Because different provisions of the Mediation Act, 2023 may commence on different dates under Section 1(3), the current commencement status of the relevant provisions and regulations should be verified from official Gazette sources before applying the transitional framework to a particular matter.

Section 57 and Section 56

Section 57 should be read separately from Section 56 - Act not to apply to pending proceedings. Section 56 addresses mediation or conciliation commenced before the coming into force of the Act, whereas Section 57 specifically preserves rules governing court-annexed mediation during the transition to regulations under Section 15(1).

Related Provisions

For the surrounding statutory framework, see Section 51 - Power to make rules, Section 52 - Power to make regulations, Section 53 - Laying, Section 56 - Pending proceedings, and Sections 58 to 65 - Amendments to other Acts.

Official Legal Sources

For authoritative verification, consult the India Code portal and the Department of Legal Affairs. The Gazette notification S.O. 4384(E), dated 9 October 2023, should be checked together with the Mediation Act, 2023 and any later notifications, rules or regulations relevant to court-annexed mediation.