The Lahore High Court Registrar Sohail Nasir said on Friday that Green Courts comprising of 36 district and session judges and 109 civil judges have been established all over Punjab to hear cases relating to environmental degradation. The LHC registrar stated that on the direction of the LHC chief justice, each Friday will be observed as a Green Day as the green courts will work on Friday across Punjab. He said the judiciary will focus on environmental cases to halt environmental degradation which poses serious threats to public health.
The registrar said a Green Division Bench comprising of justice Mansoor Ali Shah and justice Shuhaat Ali Khan has been already started hearing environmental cases at the LHC as well as on the Green Single Benches. He said the Green Courts, instead of merely passing judgments, will try to find out solutions to environmental problems. He stated that the government throws the judicial commission’s recommendations on judicial probes in matters of public importance, adversely affecting the judiciary’s image. He said the apex court has taken notice of it and that the matter will be reviewed in detail on April 27 in the next meeting of the judicial commission scheduled to be held in Karachi. He said if the government does not want to implement the judicial commission’s recommendations, it should not ask for an enquiry to be conducted by a judge. About the LHC Green Benches, the registrar said senior judges at the court’s benches in Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur will also hear environment cases, including appeals against judgments of civil judges and session judges.
