The Citizens-Court Liaison Committees (CCLCs) of Hazara Region have unanimously decided to provide more facilities and guidance to the general as well as litigant public in the courts, and create awareness among them so as to make access to the judiciary and justice easier and aware them of their rights and services being provided by CCLCs at district level.
Hazara based District Judiciary, and representatives of the district governments and lawyers have undertaken this commitment at CCLCs' Capacity Building Regional Conference held by the District Judiciary, Haripur in Tehsil Municipal Hall on Monday.
All the six District and Sessions judges of Hazara Judicial Region, district public prosecutors, Naib District Nazims, CCLCs' member district lady councillors and officials of "Access to Justice" programme, attended the conference while three Civil and Senior Civil Judges participated as observers.
At the outset of the conference the District and Sessions Judges of Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Shangla and Kohistan, who are also heading CCLCs in their respective districts, while presenting their progress reports, shared their experiences, observations, expertise and problems etc and highlighted the activities and achievements with regard to CCLC mandate.
Describing the association of Local Governments, lawyers and women with the committees as the most effective factor in running of the committees in a smooth and successful manner they also presented their recommendations to make CCLCs more functional and beneficial for the general public.
To a point the participants were told that under strict directives of the higher courts, the district judiciary was bound to dispose off all the litigations within a certain period of time. Therefore, they said, every district judiciary has its own plan for early disposal of the cases and the impression of longstanding pendency in judicial cases has become baseless now, they added.
The District and Sessions Judge Haripur, Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, District and Session Judge Mansehra, Khalid Amin Khan and District and Session Judge, Abbottabad, Syed Hayat Ali Shah told that different kinds of committees were working to ensure smooth, frequent and result oriented coordination among all the stake holders involved in administration of justice including the Judiciary, Local Governments, lawyers, litigants and particularly women. Prominent among such forums include Criminal Justice Coordination Committee, Bar-Bench Coordination Committee and CCLC.
They said that despite hardships, particularly being faced in the earthquake devastated districts, CCLCs were fully functioning in order to achieve their goals, as they not only helped lessen the burden on the judiciary but also provided an opportunity to take effective actions against certain futile customs like Sawara.
The participants expressed their satisfaction over the fact that the information kiosks established permanently within the district courts' premises have been proved quite beneficial and helpful to provide facilitation and guidance to the general public while in certain districts sufficient arrangements have been made for the waiting women, children and other litigant public.
In his remarks at the opening and closing sessions, and also while presenting the progress of CCLC, Haripur, the host of the conference, Muhammad Ibrahim Khan highlighted the aims and objectives of the conference and while pointing out the organisational structure, functions, scope and achievements of CCLCs also presented numerous suggestions to further improve the efficiency of the committees in the larger public interest.
He said that the courts were working only in the public interest and devotedly willing to resolve their disputes as per the requirements of law and justice. He added that every tier of judiciary was trying its level best to dispose of the under trial cases at the earliest and provide every possible facility to lawyers and litigants to pursue their cases in a peaceful and facilitative environment.