ISLAMABAD: Top judges of Supreme Court and high courts deliberated on Thursday upon ways and means for effective implementation of a mechanism which aims to reduce the judiciary’s workload.

Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan chaired the first meeting of the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) committee, constituted by the chief justice of Pakistan.

The committee deliberated upon the legal framework providing for applying the ADR system and reviewed the progress made by the provincial governments and Islamabad.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan emphasised the need to bring uniformity in the legal framework, establishment of ADR centres, certification of ADR service providers and a data collection mechanism to monitor the performance of these centres.

Justice Ijaz called for steps to increase awareness about the existence of ADR mechanism, saying people should know that it provides an affordable and effective forum for resolution of disputes.

The participants agreed upon benchmarks and milestones for implementation of various stages suggested and circulated by the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan secretary. The next meeting will be held after one month.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2022