The criminal courts dealing with the complaint under Section 498-A of the IPC should, at any stage and particularly, before they take up the complaint for hearing, refer the parties to mediation centre
We, therefore, issue directions, which the courts dealing with the matrimonial matters shall follow: a) In terms of Section 9 of the Family Courts Act, the FamilyCourts shall make all efforts to settle the matrimonial disputes through mediation. Even if the Counsellors submit a failure report, the Family Courts shall, with the consent of the parties, refer the matter to the mediation centre. In such a case, however, the Family Courts shall set a reasonable time limit for mediationcentres to complete the process of mediation because otherwise the resolution of the disputes by the Family Court may get delayed.
In a given case, if there is good chance of settlement, the Family Court in its discretion, can always extend the time limit. b) The criminal courts dealing with the complaint under Section 498-A of the IPC should, at any stage and particularly, before they take up the complaint for hearing, refer the parties tomediation centre if they feel that there exist elements of settlement and both the parties are willin
