Commercial Courts Ordinance Promulgated in Punjab for Early Disposal of Commercial Cases

Reform ID P038
 

 Reform Description 

The Ordinance has been Promulgated in Punjab, wherein, Time for Disposal of a Suit has been Fixed to 180 Days, Maximum Limit of 02 Adjournments has been Set

Before: For businesses, it was worrisome if they were caught-up in any legal dispute because there was no time limit for disposal of a suit and maximum no. of adjournments. Resolution of Commercial Cases was taking much time, in some cases even more than three years.

After: This reform lifted the confidence of businesses operating in the country as more than 50% of commercial cases are disposed of within the time limit of 180 days and within 2 adjournments. It will also improve Pakistan’s ranking in this indicator in the Doing Business report.

Sector Businesses Across all Sectors
Beneficiaries Businesses of all Sectors
Jurisdiction/Location  Punjab
Department  Law Department Punjab, Lahore High Court.
Date of Implementation  13-04-2021
 

 

Details

Difficulty Businesses had to wait for a long time for resolving a commercial dispute. As per Doing Business Report 2020, Commercial Cases were resolved in approximately 660 days in Lahore. The ranking of the indicator of Enforcing Contracts in the EoDB report was stagnant from the last three years.
 

Analysis

●  Without the legal framework, the disposal of the Commercial Cases by the Commercial Courts was very slow which exasperated the business community.
Solution  ●  After establishment of Commercial Courts, ordinance was needed for efficient court proceedings as the legal framework for proceedings of Commercial Courts was missing.  Accordingly, the Commercial Court Ordinance in Lahore was promulgated to address challenges of delays in resolving a commercial dispute. The ordinance fixed the maximum limit of disposal of a suit to 180 days and number of adjournments to 02.

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