Positive impacts of National Judicial Policy witnessed: judges should not be influenced by anyone: CJP

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary on Saturday noted complaints regarding corruption in district courts and directed all Chief Justices of High Courts to sort them out expeditiously. He stated this while chairing a meeting of the (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) here on Saturday, adding that positive impacts of the Policy were also witnessed as independence of judiciary shall be maintained at every cost.
The NJPMC was attended by Chief Justices of all High Courts including the Chief Justice of Federal Shariat Court, Dr Faqir Hussain Registrar Supreme Court and Habib-ur-Rehman Secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP). The CJP being Chairman of the NJPMC emphasised that Judges should not be influenced by anyone whereas verdicts should be delivered purely on merit without any fear or favour.
Later, the LJCP issued press release stating that the CJP emphasised that the Constitution discourages all types of discrimination among persons/parties on the basis of their status. He stated that Islam teaches that justice should be done without caring how the influential parties are and it should not be compromised to accommodate any influential person.
The committee also took serious note of the complaints of corruption against courts staff and stressed upon the High Courts to take up the cases of corruption very seriously and corrupt elements particularly the Court Staff who is earning bad name for the institution should be taken to task. The Committee reiterated its commitment to show zero tolerance for all types of corruption in all its manifestations. The Committee asked the Judges to make all efforts for discouraging false and frivolous litigations and ensure the quality of justice.
The Committee also reviewed the reports of inspection conducted by the Judges of the High Courts and District & Sessions Judges and also discussed various options to set up a foolproof monitoring mechanism for achieving the target of deciding all old cases up to September 30, 2011.
The Committee resolved that the Chief Justices of the High Courts should ensure periodical inspections of the district judiciary. The panel also appreciated the role of Bar for extending co-operation to the courts for quick disposal of cases. It was observed by the NJPMC that the disposal of huge number of cases has improved the image of judiciary and restored the confidence of people in the justice system. Hence, the Bar and Bench should have to work in harmony in ensuring dispensation of justice without any discrimination. The Committee also approved the Software developed by the Secretariat of Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan for monitoring the flow of cases and effective implementation of the Policy and with the implementation of Software monitoring of courts would be strengthened.
The Committee also considered the statistics of blood screening of prisoners and observed with sorrow that the numbers of hepatitis, HIV and TB cases are alarming. It was resolved that the concerned authorities may be asked to segregate contagious prisoners from other prisoners for medical treatment.
Donation of non-screened blood is a major cause of transmitting infectious diseases; the Committee resolved that henceforth no contagious prisoners should be allowed to donate blood in future. The Committee asked Provincial Home Secretaries and Inspectors General (Prisons) to develop a mechanism for blood test of each prisoner at the time of entrance in the jails to avoid spreading of infectious diseases in future. The Committee also reviewed the progress of construction of Model Jail for Islamabad and appreciated the efforts of Government for approving PC-I of the Project, allocation of land and earmarked an amount of Rs 720 Million for the Project, which should be of international standard including reformatory school.