The National Judicial (Policy-Making) Committee (NJPMC) on Sunday asked the Sindh government to fill all vacant posts in the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) in the province within 15 days.
The NJPMC, which held a meeting in the federal capital with Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in the chair, took notice of the issue after it was informed that the vacant posts were causing serious problems, like delay in hearing the important cases.
The committee discussed various issues pertaining to administering the criminal justice system and observed that incomplete investigation and non-submission of challans was a major cause of delay in disposal of cases.
It is important to note that the investigating agencies are bound to submit challan within 14 days of registration of a case.
The committee directed all IGPs to ensure submission of challans within the stipulated period and said in case of failure, the officials concerned should be dealt with accordingly.
The meeting also observed that after the formulation of new policy, the problem of non-production of the under-trial prisoners had been addressed to certain extent but directed the district and sessions judges to further improvement.
Expressing anger over deteriorating quality of investigation in criminal cases, the Committee asked the courts to report the defective investigation to the registrars of their respective high courts for necessary action against the delinquent investigators.
The NJPMC urged the federal and provincial governments to establish police complaint authorities in their respective jurisdictions as provided under the Police Order 2002.
The committee also reviewed the statistics regarding jails, their capacity and the inmates presently confined. It expressed concern over increasing number of hepatitis cases in prisons and suggested that the authorities should be asked to carry out screening of HIV Aids and hepatitis, so that the infected prisoners could be segregated from others.
