The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) has directed subordinate courts to accept women's sureties in bail matters when they execute bonds to the satisfaction of the court.
In its decision, the NJPMC said here on Saturday that there was no bar in the law for a woman to stand as surety for an accused person to be released on bail, and advised the respective High Courts to issue necessary directions to the courts. The NJPMC held its meeting in the Supreme Court building here under the chairmanship of Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan/Chairman, NJPMC.
The meeting was attended by Justice Haziqul Khairi, Chief Justice, Federal Shariat Court; Justice lftikhar Husain Chaudhry, Chief Justice, Lahore High Court; Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, Chief Justice, High Court of Sindh; Justice Tariq Parvez, Chief Justice, Peshawar High Court; Justice Amanullah Khan, Chief Justice, High Court of Balochistan; and Dr Faqir Hussain, Secretary, Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan/NJPMC.
The NJPMC considered the recommendations formulated in the National Judicial Conference, organised on February 2007 9-11 at Islamabad, on six thematic issues, namely, delay reduction, alternative disputes resolution, improvement in the quality of judgement, public interest litigation, improving the quality of legal education, and judicial independence.
The NJPMC observed that the recommendations formulated by National Judicial Conference were very useful and should be implemented in earnest and, therefore, decided that these recommendations be forwarded to all institutions of the justice sector namely, Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court, High Courts, Pakistan Bar Council and Provincial Bar Councils.
The recommendations in the area of improving quality of legal education will be forwarded to the Higher Education Commission and Universities for enforcement. These institutions will examine the recommendations and give their input to the NJPMC within a period of 3 months
The Committee expressed its dissatisfaction over the falling standards of legal education being imparted in the law colleges in the public as well as in the private sector, and stressed the need for reviewing the curriculum of the law colleges to make it more relevant to present-day requirements, improvement in the quality of teaching faculty and limiting the strength of students in each class.
The NJPMC considered the Report of Transparency International-Pakistan Chapter--on National Corruption Perception Survey 2006 in which the perception about corruption pertaining to 10 institutions/departments of the Government have been reported.
The NJPMC took serious note of the complaints of corruption in the judiciary, particularly among the judicial officers and courts' staff at the level of subordinate courts.
It also examined the perception of corruption prevalent in the related agencies, like Investigation Department, prosecution agency, etc, and resolved that corruption in any form or manifestation "is unacceptable, and has to be eradicated".
The NJPMC, therefore, directed that the said Report be forwarded to the High Courts for taking necessary measures to check corruption among the judicial officers as well as courts' staff and also in the personnel of related institutions. The High Courts will take further steps and plan strategies for taking disciplinary action against concerned officials and no leniency is to be shown to an official found indulging in corrupt practices.
The NJPMC expressed satisfaction over the implementation of its earlier recommendation to the effect that more female judges should be appointed in the subordinate courts so that they may preside over the family courts.
In this regard, the respective provincial governments have already sanctioned additional posts of female judges for appointment under the Family Court Act 1964, Thus, 35 posts of female judges have been sanctioned by the Government of the Punjab, 24 by the Government of Sindh, 13 by the Government of NWFP and 7 by the Government of Balochistan.
In addition, posts of support staff have also been sanctioned. The High Court of Balochistan has already appointed such female judges, whereas the remaining High Courts are in the process of advertising the posts for appointing competent and qualified woman judges to such posts.
The NJPMC also recommended for appropriate amendments in the law so as to enable the establishment of family courts in the tribal areas of Balochistan.
The NJPMC also considered ways and means to eliminate the evil of perjury in the courts. The Committee observed that the law is already available in Pakistan Penal Code and the respective High Courts may issue directions to the subordinate courts for taking strict action against the perjurer who gives false statement or presents forged documents or false affidavit in the court.
The NJPMC also took notice of the publication of court summons/notices in periodicals or magazines with limited circulation. It decided that such notices should be published in newspapers having wide circulation. The Committee observed that publication of summons in the magazines, instead of daily newspapers, was contrary to the rules contained in the Code of Civil Procedure.
The Committee decided that the Code of Civil Procedure and Rules and Orders of the High Court should be strictly followed and in this regard summons and notices must be published in daily newspapers having sufficient circulation in the area where the defendant resides.
Meeting of the Governing Body, Access to Justice Development Fund: Supreme Court officials said that another meeting of Governing Body of Access to Justice Development Fund was also held under chairmanship of Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan/Chairman, Governing Body, Access to Justice Development Fund.
It was attended by Chief Justices of Lahore, Sindh, Peshawar, and Balochistan High Courts, Justice Mansoor Ahmed, Law Secretary, and Tanwir Ali Agha, Secretary, Ministry of Finance.
The Governing Body considered and approved the accounts of Access to Justice Development Fund for the period ending June 30 2006. It also approved the recommendations of the Technical Evolution Committee for funding various projects in the area of legal empowerment, legal/judicial research and innovations in legal education.
The Governing Body further approved the launching the next phase of inviting proposals for funding from Access to Justice Development Fund, an advertisement to this effect for inviting projects/proposals would be published in July, 2007.