Is Section 12A Mediation Needed Before a Summary Suit?

The short answer: yes, unless your claim sits outside Section 12A

Read Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 plainly. Unless the suit contemplates urgent interim relief, you can't institute it before exhausting pre-institution mediation. Calling it a summary suit under Order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 changes nothing. It's still a suit. So where the dispute is commercial and worth Rs 3 lakh or more (the specified value), 12A bites, same as for any commercial claim.

There are three ways out. Only three. First, the claim may not be a commercial dispute at all, like a personal loan between two individuals. Second, it may be worth less than Rs 3 lakh, in which case it isn't a commercial suit. Third, the suit may genuinely need urgent interim relief, such as attachment of the debtor's property before judgment. That Order 37 is a fast procedure isn't on the list.

Frankly, the mediation stage costs little and, for a summary suit, often helps. A fair number of debtors pay up, or agree to instalments, once a notice arrives from a legal services authority. The ones who ignore it hand you a non-starter report to file with your plaint. Our summary suit service page explains the suit that comes after.

The law behind mediation before a summary suit

Order 37 is already fast. Does Section 12A still apply?

Yes. It's the argument plaintiffs try most often, and courts haven't bought it. The Section 12A exception is for a suit that contemplates urgent interim relief, meaning an order you need before the suit can be decided, like an injunction or an attachment. A summary suit is simply a quicker road to a final decree. A fast procedure and urgent relief aren't the same thing.

The design of Order 37 points the same way. Summary suits are meant for debts and liquidated demands backed by documents, where the plaintiff says the defendant has no real defence. That's exactly the kind of claim that tends to settle once a neutral forum calls both sides in. Courts see no reason to let it skip a process meant to keep such cases off the trial list.

Delhi courts have also made it plain that delay in filing undercuts any plea of urgency. Picture a plaintiff who sat for two years after the last invoice and now says it can't spare three months for mediation. It won't get far. For the general position on every commercial suit, see our guide on whether mediation is compulsory before a commercial suit. This page sticks to summary suits.

Which summary suits can skip pre-institution mediation?

Ones that aren't commercial suits. Order 37 is older than the Commercial Courts Act and works in ordinary civil courts too. An individual suing on a promissory note for a friendly loan, or on a cheque given to repay family money, isn't bringing a commercial dispute under Section 2(1)(c). Section 12A doesn't apply. The suit goes to the civil court with jurisdiction, not a commercial court.

Small ones. Under Rs 3 lakh, even a trade debt isn't a commercial suit. It goes to the regular civil court, with no Section 12A step. Some clients ask about cutting a big claim into pieces to slip under that figure. Don't. Order II Rule 2 CPC stops you suing later for whatever part you held back, and you could lose that money for good.

Ones that genuinely seek urgent interim relief. For money claims that's a narrow group, and we deal with it next. If yours fits none of these, plan on mediation first.

When is urgent interim relief real in a summary suit?

Injunctions don't come up much in a claim for money. What can come up is attachment before judgment under Order XXXVIII Rule 5 CPC. For that, the court needs to see a debtor getting ready to sell or shift its assets so that a decree finds nothing. Machines being sold off. A godown emptied and the goods trucked out of state. The business quietly put in a cousin's name. What courts look for is set out on our page on attachment before judgment.

The urgency has to show from the plaint and its documents: dated photos of stock being loaded, a newspaper sale notice, a new company registered by the same promoters, a WhatsApp message from a supplier saying the unit is closing. A general fear that the debtor won't pay isn't enough. Yamini Manohar lets the court look behind the plaint where the interim prayer is only a device to dodge mediation. And a plaint rejected on that ground loses you more time than mediation would have.

The same thinking applies to an injunction against encashment of a bank guarantee, or against a debtor selling a particular property. If you're weighing this route, read our guide on getting an injunction in a commercial suit without mediation first.

Mediation first, then the Order 37 suit: the steps

This is the usual order for a commercial summary suit in Delhi NCR. Running both tracks side by side is what keeps the whole thing short.

1. Run the three tests

   Is it a commercial dispute? Is the value with interest Rs 3 lakh or more? Is there any genuine urgency? Decide too which court the suit will go to, because that decides which authority hears the mediation.

2. Send a legal notice if you haven't

   Section 12A doesn't require one. But a notice fixes your demand, invites an acknowledgment and often flushes out the debtor's defence early. Keep the postal and email proofs.

3. File the mediation application

   Use the prescribed form, pay the fee, and send it to the DLSA for your district. If the suit belongs on the High Court's original side, it goes to the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee. Most authorities have taken these by email. Confirm the current method before sending.

4. Give working contact details

   Notices usually go by email and WhatsApp as well as post. Give addresses and numbers you know are live, because a non-starter report built on a dead email address can be challenged.

5. Turn up to the sessions

   Sessions are often online. Send someone who can actually settle, with a clear bottom line. Treat it as a genuine shot at getting paid.

6. Collect the outcome

   You'll get either a signed settlement or a non-starter or failure report. If the mediation runs its full course, the report comes when the period ends.

7. File the summary suit

   File the Order 37 plaint with the report annexed and a statement that Section 12A has been complied with. The suit then moves to the special form summons and, after appearance, the summons for judgment.

Advocate B.K. Singh keeps the summary suit plaint, affidavit and documents ready while the mediation is pending. That way the suit can go in within days of a non-starter report, not weeks.

Time and costs: mediation and then the summary suit

What does mediation do to limitation?

Section 12A(3) excludes the time spent in pre-institution mediation from limitation. Most money claims carry three years under the Limitation Act, 1963, counted from when payment fell due or from the last acknowledgment or part payment. Say your three years end in May and you apply for mediation in March. The clock stops while mediation runs and starts again after the report.

Don't leave it to the last week. The exclusion runs from the application, so the application date is what you'll have to prove. Keep the authority's email acknowledgment and the fee receipt. If registration drags, complain in writing. Any argument about dates is the plaintiff's risk, not the debtor's. How to count the three years in the first place is in our guide on the limitation period for a summary suit.

A balance confirmation or written acknowledgment signed by the debtor before the three years end gives you a fresh period under Section 18 of the Limitation Act. A part payment does the same under Section 19. Both are worth more than the mediation exclusion. They also make strong evidence in the summary suit.

The debtor ignored the mediation notice. Now what?

The authority closes it as a non-starter and issues a report, usually after the notice period lapses and a final notice goes unanswered. That report proves you complied with Section 12A. Annex it to the plaint. Refer to it in the compliance paragraph.

It's useful in another way too. Later, at the leave stage, the defendant may say it was always ready to settle, or that the claim came out of nowhere. The record shows it was invited to a neutral forum and didn't bother coming. Courts don't punish anyone for not settling, but how the defendant behaved before the suit is part of the picture when leave is decided.

Some debtors show up once and then vanish. The mediator will usually record that the mediation failed, and the report says so. Either way, file soon after you get it.

Can you use what the debtor said in mediation?

Generally, no. Pre-institution mediation is confidential. Offers, admissions and proposals made there aren't meant to be relied on later in court. A debtor who says in the mediation room that it owes Rs 12 lakh and needs time hasn't given you an acknowledgment you can file with your plaint.

That's why a summary suit has to rest on papers that exist outside the mediation. Before the application goes in, Advocate B.K. Singh asks clients to get a signed ledger confirmation from the debtor's accounts team, or to dig out any email or letter where the debtor accepts the balance. The accountant will often sign a routine balance confirmation. The director won't, once lawyers are involved.

A settlement is another matter. Once signed, it's a document in its own right with the status of an arbitral award, which we come to below.

If mediation works, is a summary suit still needed?

No. Once signed, a Section 12A settlement is treated like an arbitral award made on agreed terms. Default on it, and you skip the suit altogether. You go straight to execution, the way Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 lets an award be enforced like a decree. Often that's faster than any summary suit.

How much it's worth depends on the drafting. The settlement should state the admitted amount, the instalment dates, how payment is to be made, interest on delay, and an acceleration clause that makes the whole balance due on any default. Steer clear of loose wording like 'the parties will reconcile accounts'. The clauses that matter are listed in our guide on drafting a payment settlement agreement that's easy to enforce.

Post-dated cheques for the instalments are standard in Delhi NCR settlements. If one bounces, you've got the settlement to execute and a fresh cheque that can support a criminal complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Our network site on cheque bounce cases covers that side.

Where does the mediation happen in Delhi, UP and Haryana?

Work backwards from the court. Whichever court would hear the suit, its legal services set-up hears the mediation. In Delhi that means the Delhi State Legal Services Authority, acting through the DLSA sitting in each district complex: Tis Hazari, Saket, Karkardooma, Rohini, Dwarka, Patiala House, Rouse Avenue. For a suit that belongs on the original side of the High Court, you go to the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee instead. Up to Rs 2 crore, a Delhi commercial suit lies in the district courts. Anything bigger goes to the High Court. That ceiling may change, since a revision has been under consideration, so check it.

In Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, the district legal services authority of Gautam Buddh Nagar or Ghaziabad handles mediation for suits headed to the court designated as Commercial Court for that district. Gurugram and Faridabad work the same way through their own district authorities. Forms, procedures and email addresses vary, so confirm them with the authority before you apply. There's more on our page on mediation through the legal services authority.

Papers for the mediation application and the summary suit after it

• The contract, purchase orders or work orders showing the agreed price and when payment was due
• Invoices, delivery challans, e-way bills or work completion certificates
• Ledger extract, plus any signed balance confirmation or acknowledgment
• Bank statements showing part payments, with dates
• Bounced cheques and bank return memos, if you have them
• Your legal notice, postal and email proofs, and whatever reply came back
• The debtor's current email, mobile number and address, with something showing they're in use
• Your interest working, including MSMED Act interest if you're a registered micro or small supplier
• Board resolution or authority letter for whoever will sign and attend
• Mediation fee receipt, the application acknowledgment and the final report
• A Section 63 certificate under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 for electronic records

Mistakes we see with mediation and summary suits

• Tacking on an injunction prayer to skip mediation. Courts read the plaint as a whole, and a plaint rejected under Order VII Rule 11 costs far more time than mediation.
• Going to the wrong authority. It should match the court where the suit will be filed. Get it wrong and the defendant will argue Section 12A wasn't complied with.
• Giving the debtor's old email. A non-starter report built on a notice that never reached anyone is open to attack.
• Sending someone who can't settle. The debtor then says you weren't serious, and a real chance of payment slips away.
• Banking on what was admitted in mediation. If you want to use an acknowledgment in court, get it outside the mediation.
• Drafting the plaint only after the report. It can be ready long before the report shows up.
• Splitting a claim to stay under Rs 3 lakh. Order II Rule 2 can wipe out the rest of it.

You filed the summary suit without mediation. What now?

If the suit went in after 20 August 2022, didn't genuinely need urgent relief, and no mediation was done, the defendant can apply to reject the plaint under Order VII Rule 11. Courts have allowed those applications. The judge looks at the plaint as it stands, and won't usually park the suit while you go off and mediate.

You don't lose the claim with the plaint. Order VII Rule 13 lets you present a fresh one on the same cause of action. What can sink you is time. If the three years expired while the first suit was pending, the second may be barred. The Delhi High Court, in a 2025 ruling that threw out a commercial suit for skipping Section 12A, did allow the plaintiff to come back after mediation and ask for the court fee it had paid to be adjusted. That was one case. Don't assume you'll get the same.

Just filed and spotted the problem? Get advice quickly. Sometimes the plaint can be withdrawn with liberty to file afresh before the defendant moves to reject it, and mediation started straight away. If the suit was filed before 20 August 2022, Dhanbad Fuels confirms it shouldn't be rejected on this ground.

How it plays out for different kinds of business

Suppliers and traders with clean invoices and ledgers file most commercial summary suits, and their mediations often end in a payment plan, since the amount is rarely in real dispute. Service firms and IT vendors should use the mediation to find out whether the client's complaint about deliverables has any substance. That's what the leave application will turn on later.

If you hold a Udyam certificate as a micro or small unit, there's another door. Section 18 of the MSMED Act, 2006 lets you refer the dispute to the MSME Facilitation Council, which runs its own conciliation first, outside Section 12A altogether. The choice between the council and a summary suit turns on who the buyer is, how much is at stake and whether the buyer is the type to fight an award in court. Our guide on choosing between DIAC arbitration and the MSME council compares the two.

A lender who gave a business money on a written loan agreement has a commercial dispute, so mediation comes first. A man who lent his college friend money doesn't. And a word of caution for all of them. The Mediation Act, 2023 rewrites Section 12A with new timelines, yet parts of that Act still haven't been brought into force. Until that happens, the 2018 Rules we've described continue to govern. Check where things stand on the day you file.

What to do this week

First, two numbers: the date your limitation expires, and the claim figure with interest added. If it's commercial, Rs 3 lakh or above and nothing is genuinely urgent, get the mediation application to the correct authority in the next few days, and have your lawyer begin the summary suit draft in parallel. Our page on pre-institution mediation explains the application. Our summary suit page explains the suit you'll file if mediation fails.

If the debtor is moving assets, gather the proof today. Then think about an urgent suit with an attachment application instead.

If you'd like your papers checked before choosing between mediation first and an urgent filing, or want updates on how courts are applying Section 12A to summary suits, Advocate B.K. Singh's team is reachable through the contact page.