Pendency of court cases

ADR can save the litigants money and time as parties involved in a dispute can get speedy justice through it

In view of the increasing pendency of court cases in the country, clamour has been rising for speedy dispensation of justice from top judges, all those associated with law and members of the public. Now Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court too has emphasised the need for getting around the cumbersome process of law while expressing concern over the ever-growing cases pending with courts.

At a conference on adoption of technology in legal matters, the honourable judge underscored the seriousness of the issue of pendency, as 2.2 million cases have currently been pending awaiting court decision. This situation is serious considering that delay in dispensing with cases is causing consternation across all sections of society. The system needs remedies, and the legal luminary has suggested the adoption of technology and of the mechanism of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Like Justice Shah, judges, lawyers and technology experts have long been recommending these measures to overcome the problem of pendency. Now the situation is such that cases drag for long years in courts before decisions are pronounced. This process increases expenses of the litigants. Some cases drag for so long that the entire value of the property in question goes into settlement of costs and nothing remains for the claimants. Winning or losing doesn’t matter.

The ADR can save the litigants both money and time as the parties involved in a dispute can get speedy justice through this mechanism. This mechanism can be easily adopted in the civil justice system. The adoption of this becomes somewhat difficult in cases of criminal justice where the state is the prosecutor. Here legal experts can suggest ways for taking recourse to the ADR for fast resolution of criminal cases. The ADR mechanism has proved quite a success in Western countries. It has been such a tremendous success in the West that legal circles have pronounced the death of civil justice in Europe and the US. Only two provinces in Pakistan, Sindh and K-P, have so far put in place the ADR mechanism. The ADR needs to be publicised.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2022.

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