How to Handle a Direction to Mediate Under Section 31 of the DPDP Act
Section 31 carries the heading alternate dispute resolution, which promises more than the section delivers. A direction to mediate is the only mechanism it provides, the Board decides whether to give one, and the section is silent on almost everything that happens next. Those silences are the practical content of the provision.
Step 1: Fix the Commencement Position
Section 31 belongs to the group that comes into force eighteen months after publication of commencement notification G.S.R. 843(E) dated November 13, 2025, which falls in May 2027. So does section 27, under which a complaint reaches the Board, with the exception of clause (d) of sub-section (1) of that section, which commences a year after publication.
Nothing here is operative today, and the planning value is in the drafting rather than the diary. An organisation that has thought about whether it would accept mediation, and on what terms, will answer a direction better than one taking the question cold.
Step 2: Read the Section Rather Than the Heading
Section 31 provides that if the Board is of the opinion that any complaint may be resolved by mediation, it may direct the parties concerned to attempt resolution of the dispute through such mediation by such mediator as the parties may mutually agree upon, or as provided for under any law for the time being in force in India.
The operative word throughout is mediation. The heading speaks of alternate dispute resolution and commentary on the section sometimes reaches for arbitration and binding awards, but the text provides for one process only. A submission or an advice that treats section 31 as an arbitration gateway is reading the heading.
Step 3: Identify Whose Decision It Is
The section is engaged where the Board is of the opinion that a complaint may be resolved by mediation. It is the Board's opinion and the Board's discretion, expressed as may direct, so neither party has a right to be sent to mediation and neither can insist on staying out of the process on the ground that it would prefer adjudication.
What a party can do is address the opinion. Because the threshold is whether the complaint may be resolved by mediation, material going to that question, such as whether the dispute is about a sum or about a practice, is the material that is actually responsive to the section.
Step 4: Note What the Direction Requires
The direction is to attempt resolution. It is not a direction to settle, and the section does not provide for any consequence if the attempt fails. So the obligation the direction creates is one of participation rather than outcome, and it should be described to a client in exactly those terms.
The distinction is worth drawing expressly. A party that engages and does not agree has done what the direction required of it, and the section says nothing that converts a failure to settle into a default.
Step 5: Settle the Mediator Question Early
The section offers two routes to a mediator: one the parties mutually agree upon, or one provided for under any law in force in India. The first route depends on agreement, which means it depends on being ready with names.
Prepare for that before a direction arrives rather than after. A party with no position on the mediator is in practice choosing the second route by default, and the choice between the two is one of the few things in section 31 that a party genuinely controls.
Step 6: Keep Section 27 in View
Section 27 gives the Board the power to inquire into a breach on a complaint and to impose a penalty. Section 31 does not withdraw that power and says nothing about suspending it, so a direction to mediate is not on the face of the Act a disposal of the complaint.
Advise on that basis. The direction is a step the Board may take with a complaint that is still before it, and a client who treats mediation as the end of the matter has drawn a conclusion the section does not support.
Step 7: Map the Silences and Plan Around Them
Section 31 does not say what becomes of the complaint while mediation is attempted, whether the Board's own timeline is affected, who bears the cost, what is to be reported back to the Board, or what status a settlement reached in mediation has before the Board. None of that is in the section.
Treat each of those as a question to be settled on the facts and recorded, not assumed. The section is silent on the standing of whatever the parties agree, so an advice that assumes an agreed outcome ends the proceeding is going beyond the words.
Step 8: Keep the Record the Direction Will Be Judged On
Because the only obligation is to attempt resolution, the record of the attempt is what answers the direction. Log the dates, who attended, what was proposed and what was refused, and keep the correspondence on the file in a form capable of being produced.
A file that shows a genuine attempt answers the direction on its own terms. A file that shows nothing leaves a party arguing about participation it cannot evidence, which is a worse position than any outcome the mediation itself could have produced.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Reading the heading as the provision: Section 31 provides for mediation only, whatever its heading says.
Treating it as an arbitration route: There is no reference to arbitration or to an award in the section.
Assuming a party can demand mediation: The section is engaged where the Board is of the opinion that a complaint may be resolved by mediation.
Reading the direction as a direction to settle: It is a direction to attempt resolution of the dispute.
Arriving without a mediator in mind: The first route is a mediator the parties mutually agree upon.
Advising that a settlement binds the Board: The section does not say what status a mediated settlement has before the Board.
Keeping no record of the attempt: Participation is the obligation, so the record of participation is the answer to the direction.
Key Statutory Provisions
Section 31 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023: Alternate dispute resolution. If the Board is of the opinion that any complaint may be resolved by mediation, it may direct the parties concerned to attempt resolution of the dispute through such mediation by such mediator as the parties may mutually agree upon, or as provided for under any law for the time being in force in India. The section has no sub-sections.
Section 27 of the Act: Powers and functions of the Board, which include inquiring into a breach on a complaint made by a data principal and imposing a penalty, and which is the route by which a complaint reaches the Board.
Commencement notification G.S.R. 843(E) dated November 13, 2025: Places section 31, together with section 27 apart from clause (d) of sub-section (1), and the remainder of Chapter VI, Chapter VII and Chapter VIII, in the group commencing eighteen months after publication. Clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 27 commences a year after publication.
Sources and References
Section 31 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, bare text
Chapter VII of the Act, appeal and alternate dispute resolution
Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Act No. 22 of 2023, Chapter VII
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified legal professional for advice specific to their circumstances.
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