Justice Surya Kant on Saturday said the true measure of justice lies not in verdicts delivered by courts but in the peace created when disputes are resolved through dialogue. He was addressing the the two-day National Mediation Conference. “If trials deliver verdicts, mediation delivers futures, and the true measure of justice will lie not in cases decided, but in the peace it creates,” Justice Kant said.
He explained that while courts provide legal answers, they often leave unresolved the deeper current of human conflict. Mediation expands the frame of justice beyond win — lose outcomes and offers solutions that endure, said Jusitce Kant. “Mediation reaches where the law cannot. Into the hearts and relationships that lie beneath the dispute. The Mediation Act has given us a framework worthy of competence. Yet legislation, however, entitled it may be, cannot by itself change culture. It cannot create trust. It cannot nurture dialogue. That responsibility rests with us,” he said.
Attorney General of India R Venkataramani, who also addressed the gathering, supported Justice Kant’s call for change. He said mediation deserved the same attention that arbitration once received and must be developed into a full-fledged, self-reliant practice.