Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Judge Supreme Court of Pakistan chaired the first meeting of ADR Committee, constituted by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Chief Justice of Pakistan on the initiative of the Secretariat of Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, to help the Judiciary reduce the backlog of cases by implementing the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism and ensure concerted and coordinated efforts to implement ADR at the National Level. The other members of the Committee include Hon’ble Mr. Justice Mirza Viqas Rauf, Judge Lahore High Court, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry, Judge High Court of Sindh, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Judge High Court of Balochistan, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Abdul Shakoor, Judge Peshawar High Court and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Babar Sattar, Judge Islamabad High Court. The Federal and Provincial Law Secretaries, and the Additional Secretary, Home Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government also attended the meeting. The Committee deliberated upon the legal framework providing for ADR system in Pakistan and reviewed the progress made by each province and ICT. Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ijaz-ul-Ihsan, Chair of the Committee, emphasized the need to bring uniformity among the legal framework prevalent across the country i.e. establishment of ADR Centers, certification of the ADR service providers, a data collection mechanism for monitoring the performance of these centers and the need to provide specialized training to prospective mediators. He also stressed on steps required to be taken to increase public awareness about availability of Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism at all levels to provide an affordable and effective fora for resolution of disputes. His lordship further stated that all stakeholders must be taken on board to ensure successful and effective implementation of ADR mechanism on fast track basis. In this context, the participants agreed upon bench marks and milestones for implementation of various stages suggested and circulated by Secretary, Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan. The Chair directed all the participants to share their progress within three weeks and the next meeting will be held after a month to review the progress made by the concerned stakeholders.
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