Mediation Unlocks Infinite Solutions, Courts Often Just One: Justice Surya Kant

“Some equations admit no solution. Some yield only one. But the most remarkable are those with infinite solutions. Disputes are also the same. Some close every door. Others allow only a single outcome. But when dialogue begins, conflicts open into many possibilities. Mediation empowers parties to find the solution they can both embrace,” Justice Kant said.

Justice Kant acknowledged the indispensable role of Courts but noted their inherent limitations. “Courts provide legal answers, but often leave unresolved the deeper current of human conflict,” he said. Mediation, he argued, expands the frame of justice beyond the binary of winners and losers, offering pathways that both parties can embrace.

He added that mediation reaches into “the hearts and relationships that lie beneath the dispute” in ways law alone cannot. Though the Mediation Act has given India a robust statutory framework, Justice Kant reminded the audience that no law can build a culture of trust. “Legislation, however well entitled, cannot by itself change culture. It cannot create trust. It cannot nurture dialogue. That responsibility rests with us,” he said.

“Contemporary disputes are rarely simple, they cut across family and business, technology and community. Courts may provide legal answers, but the deeper currents of human conflict often remain unresolved. What people seek is not merely a verdict, but a pathway to move forward. Mediation offers that possibility, for it does more than resolve a case, it fosters solutions that endure,” Justice Kant said.

Justice Kant emphasized that the Mediation Act has provided a statutory framework, but building a culture of dialogue depends on the legal profession and society at large. “Legislation cannot by itself change culture. It cannot create trust. That responsibility rests with us,” he said.

To illustrate his point, Justice Kant turned to mathematics. “In conventional courtrooms, the outcome is often confined to a narrow frame. One side prevails, the other must concede. Mediation by contrast expands that frame. Some equations admit no solution. Some yield only one. But the most remarkable are those with infinite solutions. Disputes are also the same. Some close every door. Others allow only a single outcome. But when dialogue begins, conflicts open into many possibilities,” he explained.

According to him, mediation empowers parties to find the solution they can both embrace, making it not only a dispute resolution mechanism but a peace-building tool.

He further reminded the audience that mediation is rooted in India’s traditions, not borrowed from elsewhere. Communities, he recalled, once gathered beneath banyan trees to restore harmony. Invoking a Rig Veda shloka, he said, “Move together, speak together, let your minds be in harmony. These timeless words resonate perfectly with mediation’s essence, turning disputes into dialogue, and dialogue into peace.”

Justice Kant’s speech recast mediation as not just an alternative to litigation, but a more humane form of justice. “If trials deliver verdicts, mediation delivers futures,” he concluded.