ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday passed an important bill which gives legal and constitutional cover to centuries-old jirga and panchayat systems in the country with a view to ensuring speedy redressal of petty civil matters and reducing burden of litigation on courts.

The bill that was tabled by Law Minister Zahid Hamid has been enforced with immediate effect in the federal capital and gradually it will be implemented in provinces with the consent of provincial governments because amendments to civil laws are in the domain of the provincial governments.

For this purpose either the federal government would request provinces or provinces would request the federal government for implementation of the new legislation, the law minister told the house.

“The system has existed in the country for past several years and we are giving it a legal cover,” the minister said.

The bill titled Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Bill, 2016, was passed by 23 members — 17 from the treasury benches and six from the opposition — out of the total 342 members of the house.

The law minister told the house that the ADR system would settle 23 types of civil and criminal nature disputes (only those criminal disputes which are already compoundable in existing laws).

Bill passed by a mere 23 members in a 342-strong house

The 23 different offences and issues mentioned in the bill are: Disputes between the land lord and the tenant; pre-emption cases; land and property disputes; civil matters under the Small Claims and Minor Offences Court Ordinance, 2002; commercial disputes, but not limited to any claim; right or interest arising out of trade and commerce; contractual cases; disputes relating to professional negligence; family disputes, such as dissolution of marriages and maintenance, etc; suits for specific performance; companies and banking matters; insurance; negotiable instruments; personal injury; compensation and damages suits; patent trademark and copyright issues; disputes under the canal and drainage law; disputes for the recovery of movable property or value thereof; dispute for separate possession of joint immoveable property through partition or otherwise; disputes for redemption of mortgage property; disputes for redemption of accounts of joint property; disputes to restrain waste and remove nuisance; mesne profit or property; and other matters under the law not falling in the schedule but agreed to by the parties for settlement under this bill.

Although members from opposition benches belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement raised some objections over the bill, finally they passed it and no one pointed out the quorum when there were only 23 members left in the house to pass it.

Under the ADR system, mediators — who will be called Neutrals — will be appointed by the government to settle disputes as judges.

“Under the system the government will appoint panels of Neutrals (mediators) in all districts in consultation with relevant high courts and the courts will appoint them as mediators in different disputes,” the law minister said.

The PTI and PPP leaders both supported the bill but expressed some concerns.

PTI leader Shafqat Mehmood questioned the appointment of Neutrals (mediators) in the panchayat system.

PPP leader Nafisa Shah and PTI leader Dr Shireen Mazari expressed concerns over rights of women in the system and demanded appointment of women Neutrals too.

However, the law minister hoped that the rights of women would also be protected under the system. “The dispute will be settled with consent of both parties in the dispute and if any woman feels that she is not being given justice, she can move the court,” he said.

The law minister said there would be no punishment in the disputes to be settled by the ADR system.

The bill says that the ‘Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR)’ is a process in which parties resort to a method of resolving the dispute other than by adjudication by courts and includes arbitration, mediation, conciliation, neutral evaluation and dispute resolution.

Disputes under the ADR system will be heard in ADR centres to be notified by the government.

Regarding appointment of Neutrals, the bill said that the government after consultation with the high court would notify in the official gazette a panel of neutrals for each district from amongst lawyers, retired judges of superior courts and subordinate judiciary, retired civil servants, social workers, ulema, jurists, technocrats and other people having such qualifications and experiences.

The bill said complaints would be lodged at the ADR centre and it would refer the matter to a Neutral or such other person with the agreement of the parties involved.

It said the costs and fees of the ADR process would be borne by the parties in a proportion mutually agreed upon by the parties. In a case of dispute, it would be determined by the court.

The court, the Neutral or the ADR centre would utilise the services of an evaluator to determine any matter.

According to the bill, there would no appeal or revision of a decision taken by the Neutral.

Published in Dawn February 4th, 2017