ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial Saturday said the judiciary has to apply laws and protect the Constitution and the fundamental rights of the citizens.
CJP Bandial stated this while chairing the meeting of National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC). He also chaired the meetings of the Governing Body of Access to Justice Development Fund (AJDF), and the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) at the Supreme Court building, here on Saturday.
The meetings were organised by the Secretariat of Law and the Justice Commission of Pakistan, and Commission’s Secretary Riffat Inam Butt convened the meetings.
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The CJP, while chairing the NJPMC meeting, stated that for protection of fundamental rights the judiciary is as relevant as it would be the constitutional requirement. The judiciary has to apply laws and protect the Constitution and fundamental rights of the citizens while the Commission has a vital role in reforming laws.
He remarked that the judiciary is committed to provide expeditious justice, despite being confronted with challenges. The chief justice stressed upon the need to discourage false and frivolous litigation. He stated that Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a very important tool to reduce the burden of the courts by amicable settlement of disputes and appreciated the role of ADR Committee and the Commission for taking initiatives to ensure effective implementation of ADR framework in the country.
The chief justice also stressed upon the use of information technology by the judges, judicial officers, court staff and the Bar to enhance the service delivery of the justice sector. He urged the chief justices of the High Courts to take benefit of training programmes being imparted by the federal and provincial judicial academies.
The committee also reviewed institution, disposal and pendency of cases, vacancy positions in the judiciary, factors hindering the efficient administration of criminal justice system, particularly, issues relating to submission of challans, conviction and acquittals, statistics of under trial prisoners, issues of jail inmates and pending appeals of convicted prisoners were also discussed in detail to devise effective mechanism to address the issues.
The committee resolved that vacancies in the judiciary were required to be filled on priority basis for expeditious disposal of pending cases. The committee also emphasised upon the need for training of investigating officers in police and prosecution to approve the quality of investigation and prosecution.
Further, the committee reiterated that the challans should be submitted within the statutory period to bring in case disposal.
The chief justice of the high courts of all the provinces and Islamabad, who attended the meetings along with the inspectors general of police of all federal and all the provinces shared that special and dedicated benches would be constituted to decide old cases and the performance of the District Judiciary shall be closely monitored which would aid in the clearance of backlog.
CJP Bandial, chairing the meeting of Governing Body of Access to Justice Development Fund, emphasized upon the need to expeditiously execute the projects for improvement of infrastructure in District Courts especially, to create facilities for women judicial officers, litigants, and lawyers.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan highlighted that there is lack of awareness about the free legal aid for deserving litigants, and the District Legal Empowerment Committees functioning across the country should create awareness about the aid available to the needy people.
The Governing Body also approved amendments in rules for the committees to facilitate easy access to free legal aid. The Governing Body of AJDF has also approved allocation of funds to improve court environment and legal and judicial research activities to be undertaken during the next year.
The chief justice chairing the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan meeting considered the criteria for legal research to improve the administration of justice and modernising the laws.
Commission’s Secretary Riffat Inam said that all efforts were made to achieve the objectives of the Commission and organised national and international conferences including the 9th Judicial Conference covering a variety of topics pertaining to the justice sector and related areas and the recent Conference on Resilient Pakistan: calibrating population and resources.
The secretary also apprised about the initiatives to review arbitration laws and ADR mechanism in Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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