Section 7 in Commercial Courts (Pre-Institution Mediation and Settlement) Rules, 2018
7. Procedure of mediation.
(1)The mediation shall be conducted as per the following procedure-(i)At the commencement of mediation, the Mediator shall explain to the parties the mediation process;(ii)The date and time of each mediation sitting shall be fixed by the Mediator in consultation with the parties to the commercial dispute.(iii)The Mediator may, during the course of mediation, hold meetings with the parties jointly or separately, as he thinks fit;(iv)The applicant or opposite party may share their settlement proposals with the Mediator in separate sittings with specific instruction as to what part thereof can be shared with the other party;(v)The parties to the mediation can exchange settlement proposals with each other during mediation sitting either orally or in writing;(vi)During the process of mediation, the Mediator shall maintain confidentiality of discussions made in the separate sittings with each party and only those facts which a party permits can be shared with the other party;(vii)Once both the parties reach to a mutually agreed settlement, the same shall be reduced in writing by the Mediator and shall be signed by the parties to the commercial dispute and the Mediator as per Form-4 specified in the Schedule-I;(viii)The Mediator shall provide the settlement agreement, in original, to all the parties to a commercial dispute and shall also forward a signed copy of the same to the Authority; and(ix)Where no settlement is arrived at between the parties within the time specified in the sub-section (3) of section 12A of the Act or where the Mediator is of the opinion that the settlement is not possible, the Mediator shall submit a report to the Authority, with reasons in writing, as per Form-5 specified in Schedule-I.(2)The Authority or the Mediator, as the case may be, shall not retain the hard or soft copies of the documents exchanged between the parties or submitted to the Mediator or notes prepared by the Mediator beyond a period of six months other than the application for mediation under sub-rule (1) of rule 3, notice issued under sub-rule (2) or (3) of rule 3, settlement agreement under clause (vii) of sub-rule (1) of rule 7 and the Failure report under clause (ix) of sub-rule (1) of rule 7.
