First ADR centre established in Punjab Judicial Academy
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LAHORE: (APP) Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah said on Tuesday that alternate dispute resolution (ADR) system would prove a game changer for the judiciary.
Addressing a ceremony at Punjab Judicial Academy in connection with establishment of first ADR center here on Tuesday, he said, "It is our basic responsibility to check strikes".
"We can resolve our issues through dialogue after court hours", he said and added that concerned district and tehsil bars should approach the Punjab Bar Council in case of any issue.
"We are in contact with Punjab Bar Council and ready to resolve issues through dialogue mutually", he added.
The chief justice said that only strike announced by the Punjab Bar Council would be acceptable, otherwise, the courts would carry on their work, even if lawyers did not appear.
The chief justice pointed out that lawyers observed strikes for 1474 days in 36 districts of the Punjab from September 1, 2016 to February 28, 2017, which badly affected the judicial work.
He said that two judges from each district were nominated for ADR. "They will perform in respective mediation centres after receiving training from the Punjab Judicial Academy for the purpose. He said, in the begining every system faced challenges but efforts were required to make it successful.
He said that mediation center was working successfully at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry and a system had been developed to forward cases to the center from Lahore High Court and district judiciary. He said that family and guardian cases would be given priority in start.
He said that 1.5 million cases were pending with district judiciary which could not be disposed of through traditional ways. "ADR system would prove helpful in this regard", he added.
Senior Advocate Zafar Iqbal kalanori briefed about the ADR system whereas various bar representatives also spoke on the occasion and assured their cooperation for the system.
Justice Muhammad Anwaar ul Haq, Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan, Justice Amin ud Din Khan, Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, Justice Atir Mahmood, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, LHC Registrar Syed Khurshid Anwar Rizvi, provincial secretary Law Syed Abu ul Hassan Najmi, Advocate General Punjab, vice Chairman Punjab Bar Council, President and office bearers of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, President and office bearers of Lahore Bar Association, representative of World Bank, representative of European Union, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Abdul Basit, and delegations of LUMS, University Law college and Superior Law College were present on the occasion.
Earlier, the LHC chief justice laid the foundation stone of first ADR centre, being constructed with the cooperation of the World bank and also inaugurated two mediation centres at Judicial complex.
