Mediation Board (Amendment) Act 2024

This Act may be cited as the Mediation Board

(Amendment) Act, No. 2 of 2024.

Section 2 of the Mediation Board Act, No. 72 of 1988

(hereinafter referred to as the principal enactment) is hereby repealed and the following new section substituted therefor:-

2.

The President shall appoint a

have not less than fifteen years of professional experience as

have held posts of Class 1 officers in the Sri Lanka Administrative

are retired staff officers in the Public

have held managerial level offices in the private sector possessing professional qualifications and experience in mediation or any other alternate dispute resolution process:

No person who has reached the age of seventy years as at the date of appointment shall be appointed to the Commission.

The President shall nominate as

The Chairman and Commissioners shall hold office for a period of three years unless any one of them earlier dies, resigns or is removed from office:

The Chairman or any Commissioner vacating office upon the expiration of his term of office shall be eligible for re-appointment subject to subsection (2).

(a) The Chairman or any Commissioner may resign from office by letter addressed to the President.

The Chairman or any Commissioner who is absent without reasonable cause for three consecutive meetings of the Commission, the

The President may without assigning a reason remove the Chairman or any

The Chairman or any Commissioner who has resigned or has been removed from office shall not be eligible for re-appointment.

(a) Where any vacancy arises in the

Any person appointed to fill a vacancy arising from the death, resignation or removal of the Chairman or any Commissioner, shall hold office for the unexpired period of the term of office of his predecessor.

Where a Commissioner becomes, by reason of illness or other infirmity or absence from Sri Lanka temporarily unable to perform the duties of his office, the President may appoint a fit person to act in his place for the period of such incapacity or absence, and where the Commissioner who is so incapacitated or absent from Sri Lanka is the

The Chairman and the Commissioners shall be remunerated in such manner and at such rates as may be determined by the

Three members of the Commission including a member who has held judicial office as referred to in subsection (1) shall constitute the quorum for any meeting of the

No act or proceeding of the

Section 6 of the principal enactment is hereby amended by the insertion immediately after subsection (1)

thereof, of the following new subsections: -

“(1A) There shall be an officer assigned to each

Mediation Board area who shall be attached to the

Divisional Secretariat of the respective Divisional

Secretary’s Division. Such officer shall accept any application made to the Chairman of the Panel of

Mediators appointed for any Mediation Board Area situated within such Divisional Secretary’s Division:

Provided however, for the purposes of maintaining the secrecy, such officer shall not open any such application unless he is authorized in writing to do so by the Chairman of the Panel.

Act, No. 2 of 2024

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), an application with regard to a dispute referred to in subsection (1), which has been made to the Chairman of the Panel of Mediators appointed for any Special Mediation Board Area under the provisions of the Mediation (Special Categories of Disputes) Act,

An application referred to in paragraph (a) shall be deemed to be an application made in terms of subsection (1).”.

Section 7 of the principal enactment is hereby amended as follows:-

in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of that section, by the substitution for the words “five hundred thousand rupees in value;” of the words “one million rupees in value;”;

in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of that section, by the substitution for the words

in subsection (1) of that section, by the substitution for the words and figures “the certificate of non-settlement referred to in section 14A”, of the words and figures “a report referred to in subsection (2) of section 12 or a certificate of non-settlement referred to in section 14A.”;

by the insertion immediately after subsection (1) of that section, of the following new subsection:-

The following new section is hereby inserted immediately after section 9 of the principal enactment and shall have effect as section 9A of that enactment: -

9A. (1) Where an application with regard to a dispute falling under any category of disputes specified in an

Order made under section 2 of the

Mediation (Special Categories of

Disputes) Act, No. 21 of 2003, has been referred to a Mediation Board constituted under section 9 of this Act, such Mediation Board shall ex mero motu, refer such application to the

Chairman of the Panel of Mediators appointed for the same area under the provisions of the Mediation (Special

Categories of Disputes) Act, No. 21 of 2003.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), where-

the Panel of Mediators has not been appointed under section 4

a Mediation Board constituted under section 9 fails to refer the application within a period of three months to the Chairman of the Panel appointed under the provisions of the Mediation

The document obtained under subsection (2) shall be deemed to be a certificate of non-settlement issued under section 14A.

Where the parties to the dispute have not objected in arriving at a settlement by initiating proceedings of the Mediation Board constituted under section 9, a certificate of non-settlement referred to in subsection (3) or a settlement reached in the proceedings under this Act, shall not be deemed to be invalid, only due to not making the application to the proper Panel of

Section 12 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following new section substituted therefor:-

12. (1) The Chairman or the Chief

Mediator, shall issue to the disputants a certificate of non-settlement in the prescribed form signed by the Chairman or the Chief Mediator, in the case of an application made under section 6, as provided for in section 14A stating therein any of the following reasons for non-settlement:-

where it is not possible to constitute a Board under section 9, due to the non-appearance by one of the disputants for two consecutive dates, after due notification or after the expiry of three months from the date of making the application, whichever occurs first; or

upon a Board having been constituted under section 9, where-

The Chairman or the Chief

For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that the persons holding office as the Chairman and

Commissioners of the Commission on the day immediately preceding the date of operation of this Act shall continue to exercise and perform the powers and duties under that enactment until a Commission is appointed under section 2

of the principal enactment and shall from and after the date on which such Commission is appointed cease to hold office as such Chairman and Commissioners.

In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.

Act, No. 2 of 2024