About Sriram Panchu
Sriram Panchu is a Senior Advocate of 46 years standing at the Bar. He is in the forefront of the mediation movement in India, and is an internationally recognized Indian mediator. He is an alumnus of the Government Law College, Bombay. He commenced practice in 1976 at the Madras High Court and was designated a Senior Advocate in 1996. His field of law practice is constitutional, commercial and civil law. He has appeared pro bono in several significant public causes before the Supreme Court and High Courts.
In 2005 he was instrumental in setting up India’s first Court – annexed mediation centre at the Madras High Court, and has assisted the Supreme Court and other High Courts to do so. He has trained over a thousand mediators. His books on mediation are Settle for More (2007), Mediation Practice & Law (2011, 2015, 2022) and the Commercial Mediation Monograph (2019). He has mediated a large number of complex and high-value commercial disputes in India and abroad, including disputes referred to him by the Supreme Court and other High Courts. He has also mediated significant family disputes including inheritance and family business disputes. He has been appointed by the Supreme Court of India to mediate significant public disputes; this includes a major border dispute between the States of Assam and Nagaland, and a significant dispute within the Parsi community in Bombay over a ban on priests. In March 2019, he was appointed on a three-member panel to mediate the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
In December 2018 the Bar Association of India conferred on him its Lawyers of India Day Award of Honour and Distinction. The Capitol Foundation conferred on him the Anil Divan Award in 2022. Mr. Panchu has served on the National Legal Services Authority of India, (NALSA), and was the first President of the national association Mediators India. He was also a Director of the International Mediation Institute (IMI), The Hague. Recently he served on a high-level committee to fashion India’s new Mediation Act. He is on the panel of senior mediators of national and international institutions. He serves on the committees of several public charitable and social organisations. His writings on law and public issues are carried in leading newspapers.
Publications
Settle For More
Mediation Practice and Law
Mediation Practice and Law
The how, why and when of Mediation,
East West Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd.
Published 2007
Mediation Practice and Law
Mediation Practice and Law
Mediation Practice and Law
The Path to Successful Dispute Resolution, LexisNexis
Published 2021
Commercial Mediation Monograph
Commercial Mediation Monograph
Commercial Mediation Monograph
You fall into a dispute, try to talk it over.
Oakbridge, Published 2019
A Gentleman Lawyer
Commercial Mediation Monograph
Commercial Mediation Monograph
A collection of tributes to my Senior S. Govind Swaminadhan
Other Publications
Book Chapters:
1. India Chapter in Getting the Deal Through – Mediation 2013, (published in October 2012; contributing editor: Renate Dendorfer-Ditges of Heussen Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH). Continuing every year since.
Blog Posts/Articles in Newspapers:
1. What hangs on the lamp post (Convicting Corrupt Politicians), The Hindu (March 15, 2007)
2. Inadequate judge strength is glaring, The Hindu (December 12, 2007).
3. Free and fair election commissioners?, Economic and Political Weekly (February 28, 2009).
4. Bhopal gas leak case : all is not lost, The Hindu (June 19, 2010).
5. Bhopal gas leak case: Lost before the trial, Economic and Political Weekly (June 19, 2010).
6. Opportunity on hand to tackle corruption, Economic and Political Weekly (April 23, 2011).
7. Lokpal: Where do we stand now and how we got here, Economic and Political Weekly (October 08, 2011).
8. The great leap backward (about Lokpal), The Hindu (January 23, 2012).
9. Repairing the Lokpal Bill, Economic and Political Weekly (January 21, 2012).
10. In Dispute Resolution, Adjudication has its Limits, Mediation its Place, The Hindu (May 06, 2013).
11. A Tribute to Justice Verma, Economic & Political Weekly (May 11, 2013).
12. When Lawyers Stay Away From Court, The Hindu (June 19, 2013).
13. All is not Well With the Collegium, The Statesman (July 11, 2013).
14. Protecting women at workplaces (The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, prohibition and redressal) Act), The Hindu (December 21, 2013).
15. For a judicial search committee, The Hindu (August 15, 2014).
16. An inappropriate appointment (On the Former Chief Justice of India being appointed as the Governor of a State), The Hindu (June 05, 2015).
17. Not Straining the Quality of Mercy, The Wire (28th July 2015)
18. Restoring the law in courts (On Advocates disrupting the Court Proceedings), The Hindu (September 25, 2015).
19. A postscript on the NJAC (About the Supreme Court’s verdict on National Judicial Appointments Commission Act), The Hindu (December 24, 2015).
20. A Flawed Procedure to Sack Judges that India Needs to urgently Remedy, The Wire (17th February 2016)
21. Restoring order in the court (On boycott of Courts by Advocates), The Hindu (August 02, 2016).
22. Ending the impasse (About resolving the differences between the Executive and the Judiciary on the procedure for appointment of Judges), The Hindu (August 22, 2016).
23. The long and winding road to justice (Conviction of J.Jayalalitha, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu), The Hindu (February 15, 2017).
24. The case for mediated settlements (On resolving stressed bank credit), The Hindu (April 20, 2017).
25. For Habibullah Badsha, The Hindu 26-Nov-2017
26. A motorcycle and the art of court management, The Hindu (27th July 2020)
27. Justice Arun Mishra: An Assessment, Bar and Bench (13th September 2020)
28. Criticism, the judiciary and a word of advice, The Hindu (18th September 2020)
29. Mediation Bill: Not getting the Act together, The Hindu (8th December 2021)
30. Understanding the mediation bill, Hindustan Times (3rd January 2022)
31. Changing the jurisprudence of scarcity (about the condition and mentality of shortage in education in India), The Hindu (22nd March 2022)
32. Debate: We need plain speaking to reaffirm judicial values, The Wire (10th June 2022)
33. Thanks to you judges, darkness now clouds India’s mediation playing field, The Wire (13th June 2022)
34. Debate: Ex-Judges may set up Mediation Centres but serving Judges doing so violate code of ethics, The Wire (27th June 2022)
35. In the Supreme Court of Erehwon: The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, The Wire (11th August 2022)
36. In Erewhon’s Court (a fictional account of a fictional judgement by a judge who for now only lives in the imagination), Frontline, The Hindu (27th August 2022)
37. In Erewhon’s appellate court (A fictional order from a fictional appellate board with 10 fictional members who seem very suited to real life), Frontline, The Hindu (8th September 2022)
38. What does the judiciary in India need as reforms?, Frontline, The Hindu (27th August 2022)
39. Are our liberties tied to retirement dates? Why the SC roster is key to justice, Indian Express (22nd September 2022)
40. The Court and the problem with its collegium, The Hindu (13th October 2022)
41. In Erewhon’s court: The case of the hijab (A fictional court delivers a fictional judgment on an issue that is all too real.), Frontline, The Hindu (3rd November 2022)
42. Let the court judge (Giving the overweening power in the appointment of judges to the executive could undermine judicial But the judiciary should address concerns regarding the opacity of the process independence.), The Indian Express (13th December 2022)
43. India’s Supreme Court and High Courts: Imbalance in the Power Equation, The India Forum (13th December 2022)
44. India’s crushing court backlogs, out-of-the-box reform, The Hindu (19th December 2022)
45. In Erewhon’s Court (a fictional account of a fictional judgment by a judge who for now only lives in the imagination), Frontline, The Hindu (5th August 2023)
46. Mediating, minus sarkar, The Times of India (10th August 2023)
47. In ‘demolition raj,’ the High Courts as beacons, The Hindu (12th August 2023)
48. A question for the collegium: Why was Justice S Muralidhar not brought to the Supreme Court?, The Indian Express (19th August 2023)
49. Criminal law Bills renaming is needless meddling, The Hindu (21st August 2023)
50. Was Lord Krishna a good mediator in the Mahabharata war?, Frontline, The Hindu (24th August 2023)
51. Review of ‘Unsealed Covers’ by Gautam Bhatia, the outspoken lawyer who has the guts to critique judges and judgments, The Hindu (31st August 2023)
52. In the Supreme Court of Erewhon: The unseen sixth judge renders his verdict in Supriyo v Union of India, Frontline, The Hindu (26th October 2023)
53. Erewhon’s International Court of Justice: Delhi’s pollution, here’s the solution, The Hindu (21st November 2023)
54. Article 370 Judgment, Supreme Court has driven a nail through Federalism, The Print (22nd December 2023)
55. Lord Ram, from ‘mandir’ to the more important ‘rajya’, The Hindu (13th January 2024)
56. Abide with me, The India Forum (5th February 2024)
57. Age had dimmed neither the vigour nor intensity of Fali Nariman, The Hindu (21st February 2024)
58. A Giant Machine Called Prevention of Money Laundering Act, The Wire (11th May 2024)
59. Stringent laws have made prolonged detention norm, The Tribune (17th May 2024)
60. Top mediator counters Sanjeev Sanyal's 'SC works for a few hours' charge: 'Indian judges are among the hardest working', Business Today (19th May 2024)
