Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya, meanwhile, spoke during a panel titled What Actually Happens in the Room: Real-World Mediation Experiences from Indian Boardrooms and Courtrooms.
The panel comprised Poovayya; Beena Vaheed, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda; Basudeb Biswas, General Counsel, TARC; and Ankit Parhar, Partner, Poovayya & Co, who anchored the discussion.
Poovayya argued that technically complex commercial disputes require mediators who understand their business context.
He questioned why parties to a power-sector dispute involving tariff renegotiation, imported coal and technical concepts would trust a generalist retired judge unfamiliar with energy law or tariff determination.
He said statutory mediation institutions should build a pool of specialist commercial mediators rather than rely predominantly on generalists experienced in matrimonial or family disputes.