Skip to content
Friday, 13 November 2026 Judgments, law jobs and study notes, written by a practising advocate
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 · Part V: Special Proceedings

Section 89 CPC: Settlement of disputes outside the Court

Bare Act text

[89. Settlement of disputes outside the Court.—(1) Where it appears to the Court that there exist elements of a settlement which may be acceptable to the parties, the Court shall formulate the terms of settlement and give them to the parties for their observations and after receiving the observations of the parties, the Court may reformulate the terms of a possible settlement and refer the same for:—

(a) arbitration;

(b) conciliation;

(c) judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat; or

(d) mediation.

(2) Were a dispute has been referred—

(a) for arbitration or conciliation, the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of 1996) shall apply as if the proceedings for arbitration or conciliation were referred for settlement under the provisions of that Act;

(b) to Lok Adalat, the Court shall refer the same to the Lok Adalat in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 20 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (39 of 1987) and all other provisions of that Act shall .apply in respect of the dispute so referred to the Lok Adalat;

(c) for judicial settlement, the Court shall refer the same to a suitable institution or person and such institution or person shall be deemed to be a Lok Adalat and all the provisions of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (39 of 1987) shall apply as if the dispute were referred to a Lok Adalat under the provisions of that Act;

(d) for mediation, the Court shall effect a compromise between the parties and shall follow such procedure as may be prescribed.]

Amendment notes

  1. Ins. by Act 46 of 1999, s. 7 (w.e.f. 1-7-2002), Earlier rep by Act 10 of 1940, s. 49 or the Third Schedule.

Text of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act No. 5 of 1908), as amended, including the changes for commercial disputes made by the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Source: India Code, Government of India.

In simple words

Where the Court finds elements of a settlement that may be acceptable to the parties, it must formulate the terms, give them to the parties for observations, and may reformulate and refer them for arbitration, conciliation, judicial settlement including Lok Adalat, or mediation. Sub-section (2) says how the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 apply to such referrals. The section was inserted by the 1999 amendment.

Part V: Special Proceedings

  1. 89 Settlement of disputes outside the Court
  2. 90 Power to state case for opinion of Court
  3. 91 Public nuisances and other wrongful acts affecting the public
  4. 92 Public charities
  5. 93 Exercise of powers of Advocate-General outside presidency-towns