Chief Justice, Sindh High Court, Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, has lamented that the quality of legal education in the country is 'very low'. He was speaking as chief guest at the orientation workshop of the Access to Justice Development Fund (AJDF) at a local hotel on Saturday held under the auspices of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP).
"Hardly anything by the way of research culture exists in the area of law", Justice Ahmed further remarked.
He also spoke of the need of providing pre-service and in-service training to judges before they assume their onerous responsibilities.
The Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court also pointed towards the funding of projects under the AJDF towards innovations in legal education, judicial training and legal and judicial research and said that funds have been allocated to each of these sectors.
He stated that the institutions and individuals seriously interested in developing and improving curriculum for law degrees, its standards or undertaking research in any area of law including justice delivery system are always welcome to approach the LJCP for necessary assistance.
Justice Ahmed informed that the object of the exercise is to develop a full-time academia in the area of law throughout the country, make legal education a full-time vocation and seriously improve the standard of judicial performance at all levels.
He was of the view that with the passage of time the need for resources required for the projects is likely to increase and once it is recognised that they are spent in the right direction, he would call upon the federal and provincial governments, the stakeholders and philanthropists to generously contribute towards the endowment funds so as to ensure its sustainability and improve performance of the Bar and justice delivery.
The Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court said that out of the amounts received from the Asian Development bank (ADB) under the Access to Justice Programme, an endowment fund was set up through the assistance of the ADB, which has become fully operational recently.
He stated that the LJCP is holding a series of workshops regarding AJDF. The basic aim is to promote initiative for strengthening the subordinate courts, support initiative in legal/judicial research and legal empowerment of vulnerable groups. It is also focused at addressing the proverbial delay in the administration of justice.
Justice Ahmed informed that under AJDP, a Provincial Judicial Development Fund (PJDF) has been constituted as the largest window of AJDF (60.3 percent) thereunder a major portion of resources are reserved for all high courts on annual basis.
The PJDF resources are basically supplementary funds, which compliment high courts own budgets for the institutional development and improvements in the performance of judicial functionaries at the district judiciary level.
He said that the High Court of Sindh had received share from the AJDF last year and funds for this year to the extent of Rs 7.32 million were also received which were kept in a separate account for exclusive utilisation in different windows prescribed for the mobilisation which managed by the Development Committee comprising of three judges of the Court headed by Justice Musheer Alam.
The Chief Justice of Sindh High Court stated that as soon as resources for infrastructure become available, the committee members personally visited remote areas in the province and assessed the need for providing appropriate working environment for courts.
Several buildings were found inadequate to accommodate all courts and many others were found in extremely dilapidated conditions. Work of 32 schemes consisting of 91 courts out of which 32 have been completed and 42 are likely to be completed soon.
Justice Ahmed said that they have taken a more pragmatic approach intended to avoid delay in disposal of cases.
The availability of appropriate residential accommodation for judges has also been one of the major concerns and a multi-storied building consisting of 28 apartments is nearing completion in Malir.
A project of 11 residential units for Larkana has already commenced and about 60 others are proposed to be constructed across the province.
Earlier, Malik Muhammad Iqbal, Joint Secretary, Pakistan Law Commission, presented the welcome address.
It was pointed out that the Government of Pakistan has established Rs 1479 million AJDF as a statuary endowment to sustain reforms in the law and justice sector including support to the legal empowerment initiatives.
AJDF represents a key feature of Pakistan's ongoing 350 million dollars Access to Justice Programme.
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