Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry said on Saturday that by establishing the Access to Justice Development Fund, being managed by the Law & Justice Commission, it is ensured that genuine requirements of the district judiciary are met and legal aid and assistance is made available to the people, who cannot pursue their rights in the court of law.
Chairing a meeting of the Access to Justice Development Fund Governing Body held in the Supreme Court’s Conference Room, the CJP stressed upon the chief justices of high courts to ensure that allocated funds were utilised for strengthening the capacity of district judiciary in terms of infrastructure, court-related conveniences and amenities to litigants and clinical aid to clients affected by violation of their fundamental rights. The governing body approved projects of the following organisations/individuals for funding from the Access to Justice Development Fund: Legal Empowerment Fund Window: Good Thinkers Organisation (GTO), Kasur; National Development Organisation, (NDO), Kashmore, Sindh; Sindh Community Foundation (SCF), Hyderabad Community Development Program (CDP), Bannu; Community Development Organisation (CDO), Bannu; Youth Resource Centre (YRC), Peshawar; Basic Integrated Rural Development Society (BIRDS), Nowshera; Balochistan Boy Scouts Association (BBSA), Quetta; and Today’s Women Organisation (TWO), Quetta, Legal and Judicial Research Window: Afshan Zia (Individual), Karachi; Fund for Innovation in Legal Education Window: Saima Amin Khawaja, Lahore.
CJP unhappy: Chief Justice Chaudhry expressed displeasure over the “inertness, in-activeness and apathy” of the senior officers of the Pakistan Public Works Department (PWD) following a presentation by the National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) on the construction of Phase-II of the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA). He directed the NESPAK officials to rectify all engineering and structural anomalies within 15 days. The chief justice was presiding over the 36th meeting of the board of governors of the FJA.
