The 180-Day Clock: How India’s New Mediation Act Changes Family Disputes

In this respect, the Mediation Act is a paradigm change in the dispute resolution environment in India, shifting from the adversarial process to a more organised and collaborative approach. The current paper critically analyses the effect of the Act on family/marital disputes, with special regard to the imposition of the 180 days' statutory period. In particular, it considers how the time-based procedure tries to solve the problem of constant delays in family courts while ensuring procedural protection such as pre-litigation mediation, confidentiality, and enforcement of the Mediated Settlement Agreement. Finally, the paper draws attention to the structural problems, such as the lack of mediators and cultural opposition from the side of the bar