Supreme Court directs committees to assess quality of legal education

• Three-member bench says law colleges should produce lawyers instead of munshis 
• In another case, bench seeks report from secretaries of Environment Protection Department (EPD) and Health Department on incinerators installed at hospitals 

LAHORE: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Sunday formed a special committee and four provincial committees to assess the quality of legal education of the law colleges across the country, besides coming up with recommendations to improve it.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar passed these orders while hearing a petition filed by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) against a mushroom growth of law colleges in the country.

The bench directed the provincial committees to complete their work within five weeks and submit reports to the special committee for further deliberations. The special committee will conclude its task in a week.

The bench further directed the chief secretaries and the advocate generals of all provinces for providing logistic support to the provincial committee concerned.

As the proceedings began, senior advocate Hamid Khan along with PBC’s Vice Chairman Ahsan Bhoon and Azam Nazir Tarar appeared before the bench and recommended names for the heads of the provincial committees, in response to the bench’s orders of Jan 20, 2017.

They requested the bench to approve the names of former Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Professor Ahmad Ali and former justice Aman Ullah Khan to head the committees for Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, respectively.

They pointed out that the committee headed by Advocate Anwar Kamal was already functioning in Punjab as per directions of the Lahore High Court (LHC).

They apprised that a meeting of the provincial heads has been summoned in Islamabad on Tuesday, wherein they would be briefed about the task.

In addition to that, these asked the court to include the members of the PBC, provincial bar councils, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), and others in each provincial committee.

At this, the bench admired that private sector was helping to fill the gap caused by the public sector. But it should be done in a manner that produces lawyers instead of munshis (menial workers).

The bench accepted all recommendations made for the formation of committees and observed that the task should be completed within six weeks.

The bench further observed that all pending cases at the LHC regarding the matter would also be heard along with the present case. The bench would take up the matter on March 6, at the principal seat, Islamabad.

SC SEEKS REPORT ON INCINERATORS: In another case, the bench sought a detailed report from the Environment Protection Department (EPD) secretary and Health Department secretary regarding incinerators installed at the public and private sector hospitals for disposal of the hospital waste.

It was hearing a case in connection with hospital waste disposal.

The bench directed both secretaries to personally visit the incinerator sites across Punjab and submit a comprehensive report in 15 days.

During the hearing, EPD Secretary Saif Anjum, who appeared in response to the bench orders of January 20, submitted a detailed report about incinerators installed in public and private sector hospitals across the province.

He admitted that the report was prepared on the basis of data provided by the field staff, in response to a query. At this, the bench directed the secretaries to visit the incinerator sites personally and submit a detailed report in 15 days.