LAHORE: The Punjab government has allowed the Lahore High Court to amend First Schedule to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 introducing administrative judges initially in some selected districts to formally start alternate dispute resolution (ADR) in the otherwise endless civil cases.

Official sources informed Dawn on Sunday that the caretaker chief minister had approved the summary of allowing amendments to the CPC. They said the alternate dispute resolution scheme was first introduced in the late 70’s but it failed due to certain reasons. Now, it was once again been introduced in some Punjab districts as a pilot project with focus on cutting short litigation in civil matters.

According to the amendments, administrative judges would be introduced in districts who would first examine all civil suits before trial. They would interrogate both the parties to assess the issue at hand to find out whether it can be resolved amicably.

The judge would refer the case to the mediation centre for mutually reached resolution if both the parties agreed to it. If not, the case would be sent to the trial court.

Officials said the amendments were also aimed at making execution of court decrees in civil suits easy. At present, procedural hurdles are making it difficult to execute such decrees.

Another significant aspect was disallowing appeals against interim orders. At present such orders are ‘appealable’.
Officials said the amendments would be notified by the LHC.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2018