Supreme Court to Establish Mediation Centre, Justice Aurangzeb Says

A senior Supreme Court justice has called for greater institutional support for alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, announcing that the Supreme Court of Pakistan intends to establish a dedicated mediation centre to ease pressure on the country's overburdened judicial system.

Justice Aurangzeb, addressing a legal forum, argued that encouraging mediation and other non-litigious dispute resolution pathways was essential to reducing case backlogs that have accumulated across all tiers of Pakistan's courts. The proposed mediation centre, to be housed under the Supreme Court, would offer a formal institutional framework for parties seeking to resolve disputes outside conventional litigation.

The announcement reflects a broader reform push within Pakistan's judiciary, where successive chief justices have flagged the unsustainable volume of pending cases as a systemic challenge. Alternative dispute resolution has gained traction globally as a cost-effective and time-efficient complement to formal court proceedings.

Legal observers welcomed the initiative but noted that its success would depend on legislative backing, trained mediators, and public awareness campaigns to shift cultural reliance on adversarial court processes. The Supreme Court's formal entry into ADR infrastructure is expected to lend the mechanism greater credibility and uptake.