The Bar Council of India (BCI), in collaboration with the Bar Council of India Trust – Pearl First and the India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER), Goa, is set to host a two-day National Conference and Symposium on “Mediation: How Far Significant in the Present-Day Context” on 26–27 December 2025 at IIULER, Sancoale, Goa. The conference brings together an extensive judicial, governmental, academic and practitioner cohort, including over 40 judges from various High Courts, senior advocates, policymakers and international mediation experts.
The conference will be inaugurated by the Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, who will deliver the keynote address underscoring mediation as a constitutional value and a critical pillar of access to justice. The inaugural session will also feature Supreme Court Judges Justices J.K. Maheshwari, P.S. Narasimha, Prashant Kumar Mishra, Ujjal Bhuyan, N. Kotiswar Singh and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, along with Goa Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant. BCI Chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Manan Kumar Mishra, Senior Advocate, will play a central role across sessions, including the valedictory conference report.
A key highlight on 26 December is the Mediation Awareness Walk at Panaji, led by the Chief Justice of India, aimed at public sensitisation towards consensual dispute resolution. Substantively, the conference will examine India’s evolving mediation framework post the Mediation Act, 2023, growth of court-annexed mediation centres, pre-litigation mediation, enforceability of settlements, mediator accreditation, confidentiality and neutrality, and the expanding role of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), including live on-site demonstrations.
The programme features plenary discussions, policy roundtables, panel discussions, and parallel technical training sessions conducted by senior trainers from the Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee (MCPC), Supreme Court of India, with international experts joining live online from jurisdictions including the UK, France, Russia, Austria, Canada, Singapore and Nigeria. Special emphasis is placed on hands-on mediation training for young advocates and trainees, covering negotiation skills, impasse management, mediation advocacy and ethical practice.
On 27 December, the Policy Roundtable titled “Mediation for the Nation, Mediation Act, 2023 & Viksit Bharat”, chaired by Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, will deliberate on institutionalising mediation as a mainstream dispute resolution mechanism aligned with India’s development goals. The conference will conclude with a valedictory session focusing on career pathways in mediation and the release of key policy recommendations and conference outcomes.
Overall, the BCI-led national conference positions mediation as a transformative justice tool, reinforcing India’s commitment to efficient, participatory and technology-enabled dispute resolution in the post-2023 legislative landscape.
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