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" CAN AWARD OF COSTS BE USED AS A TOOL FOR ADMINISTRATION TO JUSTICE   CAN AWARD OF COSTS BE USED AS A TOOL FOR ADMINISTRATION TO JUSTICE   By   Barrister Ahmed Uzair, Lahore     The National Judicial Policy 2009 of the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee calls for cooperation among stakeholders to address 'backlog' and "delays" in our system of justice. All courts, from the Magistrate Courts to the Supreme Court, are overwhelmed by this backlog of cases, caused, primarily, by delay in dispute resolution. Efforts are being made at the policy level to identify ways to improve the administration of justice.1   1. For example the seminar held by the Supreme Court Bar Association in February, 2011 in Lahore on Administration of Justice. Delay Reduction Workshops conducted in 2000, Pilot Courts, IT development, Guidelines to Subordinate Courts, Incentive and Reward Scheme etc.   The subject of this paper is that courts can use the award of costs as a method of effective administration of justice. One of the' modes, which can result in speedier trials and bring about a reduction in backlog of cases, is award of costs mechanism. In order to achieve this objective, there is a need of change in law, in particular the High Court Rules. That being said, however, we can only achieve these goals if there is a change in mindset of the stakeholders(i.e. litigants, lawyers and the judiciary) on award of costs. Specifically, it is suggested that as a general rule costs should follow the event i.e. the successful party should recover its cost of pursuing the litigation.   1. DEFINITION   The term "Costs" as is being used in this paper refers to the burden imposed on the losing side in a litigation to compensate the…