Pre-institution mediation under commercial law treated as substantially complied with after court-referred mediation failed before suit registration.

A commercial suit was not treated as non-maintainable for alleged non-compliance with the pre-institution mediation requirement because the parties had already been referred to mediation by the civil court before the suit was registered, and that mediation had failed. On those facts, the Supreme Court treated Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act as having been substantially complied with, since the dispute had in substance undergone mediation before institution. The plea of non-compliance was therefore rejected, and the suit was allowed to proceed.

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Issues: Whether the commercial suit was liable to be held not maintainable for non-compliance with Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015.

Analysis: The suit had been registered after the parties had already been referred to mediation by the Civil Court, and the mediation had failed. On these facts, the requirement under Section 12A was treated as having been substantially complied with because the dispute had, in substance, undergone the mediation process before the suit was registered.

Conclusion: The plea of non-compliance with Section 12A was rejected and the commercial suit was not held to be non-maintainable on that ground.

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