At a time the federal and provincial governments are making drastic cuts in their respective developmental budgets due to paucity of resources, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is reported to have cancelled $400 million interest-free loan meant for an access to the programme called Punjab Local Justice Programme (PLJP).
Spread over a three-year period, PLJP has been designed to enhance the capacity and competence of the subordinate judiciary through both soft and hard policy initiatives. These include reform of the judicial services' structure and establishment of a judicial accountability mechanism together with changes in the role the police and prisons departments play in this context.
The plan also covers computerisation of judicial offices, construction of new buildings, and setting up of a provincial forensic science agency as well as a judicial academy. Indeed, all these measures are badly needed to improve the performance of our subordinate judiciary, which deals with civil and criminal cases affecting ordinary people, and where the justice delivery system is notoriously poor.
It is sad indeed that the reform programme has now run into difficulty due to what is clearly a case of bureaucratic inefficiency. Notably, negotiations for PLJP started in 2007 with the provincial government offering a firm a commitment to fulfil its obligations. The PLJP was to be launched in the second half of the current year, but the ADB is now refusing to give the money it had promised.
Something happened between the furnishing of commitment and the actual launch of the project. As a matter of fact, those in the know say that the project has come to a standstill because the concerned officials did not pursue it properly.
Which may be attributable to the change in government and the usual transfers and postings of high level officials that followed. Or it could simply be lack of interest on the part of the previous set of officials who were to do the necessary spadework. Whatever the reason, it is a case of unforgivable inefficiency and calls for accountability of those responsible for undermining such a high priority project.
Ironically, the issue has surfaced at a time Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has been expressing the hope that the donor organisations will come forward to support development work in the province. The Chief Minister is also known for his hands-on approach towards all projects and plans that run under his watch. Hopefully, he has taken notice of ADB's cancellation of the loan for the PLJP project, and can be expected to work for its restoration sooner rather than later.