Who may serve as chairperson of a mediation committee, and does the route differ between the two kinds of committee this provision reaches?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
For this exercise, we read the mediation committee's member roster or minutes to see whether the person chairing was designated as the member representing the public interest, and any record of an election among members showing how a chairperson was chosen by vote.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading treats the main sentence as the general case: a mediation committee has a chairperson, and that chairperson must be the mediation member who represents the public interest, so public-interest status is what the provision makes the condition for chairing.
Another reading turns on the proviso, which begins 'however': for the mediation committee constituted under the further provision of the same Act that this provision cross-references, the chairperson is instead elected from among the members, and the provision leaves who conducts that election and by what majority open.
Your judgment
Does the file show which of the two routes produced this chairperson, and does the designation or election record match the route the provision sets?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to merge the two routes or to name who conducts the election among members, or if official guidance explains how that election is held.