Lahore High Court Chief Justice Azmat Saeed has established Green Benches comprising of LHC judges who will hear cases relating to environmental issues or environmental interest litigation.
In a historical move, the LHC directed that the LHC judges will hear cases on the Green Courts in Lahore and Rawalpindi, while the district and sessions judges will hear cases on Green Benches at the district level.
According to a notification issued by LHC Registrar Sohail Nasir, the LHC CJ has nominated justice Mansoor Ali Shah to hold court at LHC at the single Green Bench in the principal seat.
A division bench comprising of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Shuhaat Ali Khan has been set up as Green Bench.
The chief justice has also passed directions that senior LHC judges in Multan, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi will sit on the Green Bench, while two senior judges will hold court as Division Green Bench in other cities.
According to another notification of the LHC registrar, all the courts of the senior civil judges at the headquarters and sub-division levels have been declared as Green Courts by the CJ.
The chief justice has ordered the transfer of all the environmental cases to the Green Benches of the LHC and Green Courts at the district and tehsil level.