“In majority cases mother tongue is Hindi”: Delhi HC directs Mediation Centres to prepare settlement agreements in Hindi also

The Delhi High Court has recently directed the in-charge of Mediation Centres to ensure that the mediated settlement agreements are prepared in the Hindi language also.

Noting that since in the majority of cases, the parties do not comprehend English and their spoken language and mother tongue is Hindi, the bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma directed, “Concerned In-charge of Mediation Centres will ensure that the mediated settlement agreements are prepared in the Hindi language also, in addition to the English language, as far as possible”.

“This Court also remains conscious of the fact that the majority of litigants who approach this Court and the Courts below speak Hindi as their first language. Given that Hindi is their mother tongue, they are far more adept at speaking and understanding it than other languages such as English. However, the mediated settlement agreements in Delhi are drafted only in English. In such a scenario, the Settlement Agreement and the conditions thereof may not always be adequately clear to the parties, and at times, the translation from English to Hindi may not convey exactly what the parties intend to do”, the court said.

“However, in cases, the parties are well-versed in the English language and want the agreement to be in English language only, there will be no such insistence or requirement”, the court added.

The single-judge bench said that the aim of mediation is to reduce or resolve litigation and not to escalate it, therefore, it would be apt to ask both parties to bring their agreements in their own language even in skeletal form, which can help the mediator to ensure that none of the conditions is left out while preparing the final draft or agreement.

The court stated that the guidance needed by the mediators to draft agreements with a degree of coherence, consistency, and unambiguity will come a long way in healing the lives of those in need of such healing by immediately an end to a dispute and further insulating them from future litigation.

While hearing a case of matrimonial dispute, the court passed certain guidelines to be followed by the mediators in drafting a ‘Mediated Settlement Agreement”:

1. Specify Names of Parties: The agreement must specifically contain names of all the parties to the agreement.
2. Avoid Ambiguous Terms: The terms such as ‘respondent’, ‘respondents’, ‘petitioner’ or ‘petitioners’, in absence of their names in the agreement must be avoided in an agreement as it leads to ambiguities and further litigation.
3. Include All Details: The terms and conditions of the agreement reached between the parties, howsoever small and minute they may be, must be incorporated in the agreement.
4. Timeline For Compliance: The timeline of the fulfillment of terms and conditions and their execution must be clearly mentioned. There should be no tentative dates as far as possible.
5. Default Clause: A default clause should be incorporated in the agreement and the consequences thereof should be explained and enlisted in the agreement itself.
6. Mode of Payment: In case any payment is to be made as per settlement, the agreement should specify the method of payment agreed upon between the parties which should also be as per their convenience i.e. electronic mode, by way of a Demand Draft or FDR and the necessary details for the fulfillment of this condition.
7. Follow-Up Documents: The agreement should also stipulate to which Follow-up documents are to be prepared and signed by which party.
8. Cases involving 498A IPC: Further, especially in cases of matrimonial disputes, where one of the conditions in the Agreement is to cooperate in the quashing of FIR, such as those under Section 498A IPC, and filing of affidavit and appearing in the Court for the purpose of the same, it is advisable that the agreement must stipulate the names of all the parties concerned who have been named in the FIR specifically and the fact that the claims have been settled in totality for quashing of entire FIR and proceedings emanating therefrom qua all persons named in the FIR. It be also clarified specifically that the FIR will be quashed in totality against all the persons arrested, not arrested, chargesheeted, not chargesheeted, with their names and whether the entire FIR will be quashed against all of them upon payment by a husband or any other person on behalf of the husband.
9. Criminal Complaints/Cross-cases: Criminal Complaints filed by parties against each other, pending trial or investigation should also find specific mention with names of all the parties, the Court concerned, and how the parties intend to deal with them
10. Read and Understood: The agreement should necessarily mention that all the parties have read and understood the contents of the settlement agreement in
    their vernacular language.
11. Signing of Agreement: In case only one or some parties are present during mediation proceedings and only their signatures are obtained on the agreement, it be clearly mentioned and clarified that the agreement is being signed on behalf of those relatives or parties also even in case they are not present, in case the agreement is qua them too and they are not present in person due to age, ailment, distance or any other reason.
12. Clarity of Language: At last, the language used in a settlement agreement must be definite enough to understand the real intention of the parties and the goals they wish to achieve by entering into the agreement.
13. Judicial Realism: Urgent Need to have Settlement Agreements in Hindi

“The lives of people embroiled in matrimonial litigation are often in state of turmoil, and thus, the mediation as a method of alternate dispute resolution has to come to their rescue instead of further extending the state of turmoil”, Justice Sharma said.

Furthermore, the court clarified that by the present judgment, it only aimed to ensure that challenges to such mediation agreements due to lack of clarity or missing out on the crucial aspects of the agreement are minimized.

Conclusively, the court ordered “A copy of this judgment be forwarded to In-Charge, Delhi High Court Mediation and Conciliation Centre (SAMADHAN) as well as concerned In-charge of all the Mediation Centres in all District Courts of Delhi, for taking note and ensuring compliance and for further circulation among all learned mediators. A copy be also forwarded to Director (Academics), Delhi Judicial Academy”.

Case Title: Sh. Chhatter Pal & Ors. v. State & Anr.