Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday took serious note of the complaints of corruption against judicial officers and court staff and stressed the Chief Justices of High Courts to show zero tolerance to corruption.
Addressing the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJMPC), the Chief Justice called for improvement of the existing monitoring system and said that judicial officers and court staff were drawing reasonable salaries; therefore, corruption and inefficiency would not be tolerated in any way. In his introductory remarks the Chief justice emphasised strict monitoring of the performance of the district judiciary for achieving the goals of new judicial policy.
The Committee considered issues relating to non-production of prisoners before the courts for trial, and overcrowding's in jails, and resolved that the provincial governments should be asked to construct jails at least one at district levels and sub-jails at Tehsil level. The Committee further resolved that non-production of under-trial prisoners (UTPs) before the court is a main cause of delay in disposal of criminal cases. Therefore, the police authorities should be compelled to ensure production of prisoners before the courts.
The Committee asked the District and Sessions Judges to visit jails regularly and to decide the cases of the prisoners involved in petty cases by invoking the relevant provisions of law. This practice would not only give relief to the prisoners confined on chargers of minor offences but would also help to reduce the burden on the overcrowded jails.
The Committee stressed upon the District and Sessions Judges to make all possible efforts for effective implementation of the Policy and to ensure that the framework given in the Policy should be met and that its benefit should be trickled down to the grass-roots level.
The NJPMC meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and was attended by Justice Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan, Chief Justice, Federal Shariat Court Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, Chief Justice, Lahore High Court, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice, High Court of Balochistan; Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Chief Justice, Peshawar High Court; Justice Mushir Alam, Acting Chief Justice, High Court of Sindh and Dr Faqir Hussain, Registrar Supreme Court/Secretary, National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee.