KARACHI: A meeting of National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) was held on Saturday under the Chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar at the Supreme Court (SC) Branch Registry, Karachi.
The meeting was attended by NJPMC members including Federal Shariat Court Chief Justice Sheikh Najamul Hassan, chief justices of the provincial high courts which included Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mir Muhammad Noor Meskanazai and Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi.
The justices of the Supreme Court namely Justice Faisal Arab and Syed Sajjad Ali Shah and Member Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan Justice (retd) Mian Shakirullah Jan attended the meeting on special invitation. Law and Justice Commission and NJPMC Secretary Dr Muhammad Raheem Awan also attended the meeting and presented the reports on agenda items.
NJPMC chairman said that the purpose of the meeting was to introduce reforms in the judicial sector for the provision of quick justice to the people. The commission examined the reports highlighting the reasons of delay in disposal of civil and criminal cases.
The chairman emphasised that judicial officers should use all their expertise with a full dedication to address the problem of backlog and delay in disposal of the cases in accordance with law. Moreover, good speaking and legally correct decisions at the trial court level will also reduce the load upon appellate courts to a large extent.
He urged the chief justices to grasp the reasons for delay in the subordinate courts and advised that such reasons should be resolved by using all the available resources. He emphasised that disputes of the general public could also be resolved in a timely and cost-efficient manner through recourse to Alternate Dispute Resolution methodologies.
The committee also examined the reports related to submission and approval of challan by the police and prosecution within statutory periods, which was the main cause of backlog and delay in criminal cases. The committee also emphasised on the need that investigating and prosecuting agencies should improve their standards so that no one could be let free because of their performance and for which the judiciary is blamed.
Moreover, standard forensic laboratories should be set up throughout the country.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar stressed upon the provincial chief justices to upgrade the judicial academies for training of judges and publication of bench books for the judges for readily referring to basic principles of civil and criminal law. He also emphasised the need for formation of expert courts/special dedicated courts which could adjudicate specific type of cases such as rent/family/ childcare etc. in accordance with law.
NJPMC chairman stated that as per the decision of the SC, the district Judiciary should pass judgments within thirty days.
The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan Secretary Dr Muhammad Raheem Awan presented reports highlighting the latest institution, pendency and disposal status of cases in superior and district judiciary.
NJPMC chairman informed that for improving process serving, SC has called a meeting of inspector generals of police.
It is worth mentioning here that first-time male and female representative judges from the district from all provinces and Islamabad were invited to attend the NJPMC meeting to share the ideas and experience of district judiciary with this highest forum. The learned judges of the district judiciary highly appreciated on being invited and said that this has increased their confidence and boosted their enthusiasm to work shoulder by shoulder with the superior judiciary to provide speedy and quality justice to the people of Pakistan.