LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad inaugurated the country’s first commercial court here at Lahore Judicial Complex on Saturday.

Commercial courts are crucial for progress of the country’s economy, said the chief justice in his address. He said the establishment of the first commercial court in Punjab was a revolutionary step for which he congratulated Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muham­mad Qasim Khan. He said the cases relating to businesses needed to be decided without delay as they had an indirect effect on the economy.

The provincial government following a process of consultation with the LHC promulgated the Punjab Co­mmercial Courts Ordin­ance of 2021 under ease-of-doing business reform frame­work to establish the commercial courts.

Later, speaking at a launch ceremony of “Citators of Civil & Criminal Law,” CJP Ahmad said the progress of a society was linked to the implementation of the law. He said it was a matter of pride that the courts continued to work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

LHC Chief Justice Khan said he had many projects on his priority list when he assumed office. He said some projects had been completed, however, a few faced a delay due to the pandemic.

He hoped that the commercial court would deliver good decisions to make the judiciary proud. He hailed the performance of the district judiciary of Punjab saying the courts disposed of more cases in 2020 than 2019 despite the pandemic.

As per a research paper of the LHC, efficient contract enforcement is essential to economic development and sustained growth. An overall enhancing the efficiency of the judicial system can improve the business climate, foster innovation, attract foreign direct investment and secure tax revenues.

The LHC under the guidance of Chief Justice Khan and Justice Jawad Hassan led the initiative on designating judges in civil courts for cognizance of commercial cases. It said such initiatives would immensely facilitate the litigants. The ranking of Pakistan for enforcing contracts indicator is also expected to improve.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2021