KARACHI: The senior puisne judge of the apex court, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, on Friday said the businesses and companies in the country should adopt internal mechanism of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to settle commercial cases, as Google, Amazon and other global firms already have effective and extensive ADR system.

Highlighting the important of mediation and arbitration, Justice Shah said this was happening across the world as they no more rely entirely on the justice system. “Do it for yourself just have polices and ADR system in your companies and address the issues within the firm,” he suggested.

The courts could only be approached if there was any issue of interpretation of laws, he said, adding that there was no rocket science to set up mediation and arbitration system in companies as online mechanisms were available to settle the disputes.

He expressed these views while speaking at a seminar titled “Pakistan’s ADR Renaissance” held at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) City Campus.

Says Pakistan’s justice system needs 20,000 jurists to meet average international benchmark

Justice Shah, who is also heading the arbitration law reforms committee, said there were 2.4 million cases pending in courts across Pakistan and 83 per cent of the cases were at the trial courts, which was the real issue for ligation. “The country’s judiciary had decided 1.7 million cases last year, but still the pendency is 2.4 million. So you understand how sluggish the litigation system is and how sluggish the courts are,” he told the IBA gathering.

He highlighted the need for “serious reforms” in the justice system by making use of technology, artificial intelligence and by taking several other measures to expedite the disposal of cases. He said there were 4,000 judges in the country but there was a need to increase the number of jurists to 20,000 to meet average international benchmark.

He said the ADR system was already available in China and several other countries. With many investment and development projects coming to Pakistan, there was an urgent need to speed up the pace of justice system, he said. As investors didn’t like litigation, Pakistan would have to prepare for speedy resolution of disputes in order to enhance business and trade, he added.

Justice Shah also lauded the IBA for setting up of Alternative Dispute Resolution International Centre.

The chief justice of Sindh High Court Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui said the resolution of cases even through mediation and ADR system in Sindh was very slow, as only 1,530 cases were decided between 2019 and 24.

He was of the opinion that there was a trust deficit to enforce ADR system as well as the mindset of lawyers to adopt the mediation while there has to be a strong curriculum in educational institutes, training of students and proper laws to implement the ADR system.

Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan applauded Justice Shah’s efforts for ADR and said the government had received the draft bill on ADR from the committee he headed. He believed that the legislation would be enacted within next few months.

Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurang­zeb of the Islamabad High Court, Justice Jawad Hassan of the Lahore High Court, Justice Syed Moham­mad Atiq Shah of the Peshawar High Court, executive director of IBA Karachi Dr Akbar Zaidi and others also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2024