Contract enforcement
in Pakistan on an average takes 47 procedures and 976
days (5-10 years) of litigation. Because of this, Dispute
Resolution becomes a costly exercise amounting to 35%
of the assets of businesses caught up in litigation.
Moreover, Small and Medium Enterprises constitute 90%
of business in Pakistan, but have little alternative
recourse in the event of breach of contract. This inefficient
dispute settlement mechanism hinders market based growth
and discourages the foreign and local investors to engage
in business in Pakistan. However, despite the need,
Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) has not been institutionalized
in Pakistan as yet, and as a result of this around 1.5
million cases remain backlogged in the Courts, of which
a third are commercial cases.
With this backdrop, KCDR started its operations to achieve the following objectives:
- To activate commercial ADR practices in Pakistan.
- To institutionalize ADR/Mediation systems to increase efficiency and reduce heavy case backlogs in Courts.
- To professionalize mediation by transferring skills and know-how to judges, lawyers and other groups enabled by ADR practices.
- To promote access to justice, essentially reducing the time and cost of SME litigation.
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OBJECTIVES
