Include retired judges, senior lawyers in body: Bar representatives

Senators say legislation requires more vetting, amendments

There was a need to include retired judges and senior lawyers on neutral panels of dispute resolution bodies.

This was suggested by lawyers during a hearing of the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice as it discussed the Alternative Dispute Resolution Bill 2017 on Wednesday.

The meeting, held with committee chairman Senator Javed Abbasi in the chair, noted that the law has already been passed by the National Assembly while the Senate has also discussed it in detail.

Senator Abbasi noted that some amendments proposed by the committee members had been incorporated into the legislation, a statement from the Senate Secretariat said.

On Wednesday, the committee invited representatives of the Islamabad Bar Council, Islamabad Bar Association and Islamabad High Court Bar Association to give their input.

A representative of the Islamabad Bar Council said that the system for out-of-court settlement of litigations was in practice in many countries, including Pakistan, where litigants are allowed to resolve their disputes without the interference of courts.

However, there are many legal complications in the matter since each act has a number of rules, he said.

The lawyers, however, urged that the new bill should make the grey areas clearer.

Moreover, the lawyers said that there was a need to include retired judges and senior lawyers on neutral panels of dispute resolution bodies.

However, the representative of Islamabad High Court Bar Association opposed the idea of appointing retired civil servants on the dispute resolution bodies.

Senator Farooq Naek was of the view that neutral panels of the dispute resolution bodies should not include Ulema, social workers and technocrats. However, he noted that Ulemas having degrees in Islamic Jurisprudence or lawyers with over ten years of experience could help in mediation.

Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid said a section on jirgas and panchayats had been removed from the bill, which was meant only for the Islamabad Capital Territory.

Explaining why social workers had been included in the dispute resolution panels, he pointed out that there were a number of cases of commercial nature where retired judges and senior lawyers did not have the requisite expertise. Moreover, he said that cases would be referred to the bodies with the consent of both the parties and would help reduce the burden on the courts.

Senator Saeed Ghani was of the view that the bill requires further amendments and the discussion was put off until the next meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2017.