Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday stressed the need for expeditious disposal of pending cases in Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) to eradicate heinous crimes from the society.
Chairing a high level meeting on monitoring and functioning of Anti Terrorism Courts at the Supreme Court's Branch Registry here, the Chief Justice said that in the current scenario, responsibilities lie on the judges of ATCs and law enforcing agencies for early dispensation of justice.
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry urged the chief justices of the respective High Court to ensure that the judges of Anti-Terrorism Courts serve with honesty, integrity and dedication to avoid unnecessary adjournments in such cases. He also under scored the need for increasing judges of the Anti Terrorism Courts to address the problem of pending cases.
The Chief Justice emphasised the need of vesting the Chief Justices of the respective High courts with the administrative powers including postings and transfers of ATC judges for smooth running of the system.
Responding to point raise regarding professional competence of public prosecutors, the Chief Justice said that such appointments may be made through Public Service commission to induct talented and capable professionals strictly on merit and they should be given better remuneration's to achieve the desired results.
Reviewing the performance of the ATC courts in all the provinces he appreciated the drastic improvement in disposal of pending cases. He directed the police chiefs to submit challans of the cases related to ATC at the earliest. The Chief Justice (CJ) , however, stressed upon the police to pursue the cases with credible evidence to that the culprits involved in the heinous crimes like terrorism cannot escape from the clutches of the law.
The CJ was given detailed briefing by judges of Superior Courts, the police chiefs and Home Secretaries for provinces. They appraised the Chief Justice about performance of ATC.
The meeting was attended by judges of Supreme Court, Justice Javaid Iqbal, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Naimuz Zaman from Lahore High Court, Justice Ijazul Hassan from Peshawar High Court and Justice Akhtar Zaman Malghani from High Court of Balochistan, Registrar Supreme Court Faqir Hussain, police chief of respective provinces, Home Secretaries and IGP Islamabad. Earlier, the smartly turned out contingent of frontier police presented the guard of honour to the Chief Justice.
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