Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Chairs Provincial Justice Committee

Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC), Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth on Friday chaired the 4th meeting of the Provincial Justice Committee

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Sep, 2020 ) :Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC), Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth on Friday chaired the 4th meeting of the Provincial Justice Committee.

The Committee, an apex provincial body is mandated to ensure effective administration, operation and development of a fair, impartial and inclusive rule of law and organizations to address provincial law, justice and security challenges within the province, says a press release issued here today.

Earlier, the forum held extensive deliberations on 28th August, 2020, on the implementation of the committee's past decisions including; nomination of the focal persons by the member departments, development of IT infrastructure, liaison of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department with the Human Rights cell of PHC, revamping of criminal justice system, mechanism for effective implementation of the Probation & Parole laws, co-ordination between prosecution & police, digitization of court record, procedure for appointment of law officers, and preparation of draft laws.

The forum also deliberated infrastructure & human resource requirement of PHC and establishment of Provincial Office of Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan.

The meeting was adjourned to 18th September, 2020.

In its meeting on ,the member departments held threadbare discussion on the department specific Agenda items.

Khawaja Wajih-ud-Din, the Registrar Peshawar High Court, gave a formal presentation on the need for enactment of Draft Judicial Service Act and other Justice Sector Legislation.

He emphasized that Judicial Independence lies at the foundation of the Administration of Justice and it is shaped by the relations between the branches of the government.

It was agreed that the SOPs already circulated amongst the member departments shall be followed for future progress of the meetings of PJC.

It was decided that the focal persons of all the departments shall meet after one month to discuss and deliberate upon the issues involved in the criminal justice system.

The member departments further agreed that each department will fix a bench mark for its performance for the next year and will submit the progress in the upcoming meeting of PJC to be held on 18th December, 2020.

It was also decided that the courts will be established in the Sub Divisions of Khyber and South Waziristan as soon as the infrastructure is provided by the government.

The forum also decided that the record of criminal cases should be digitized so as to maintain the record of criminals. It was further decided that the prosecution shall be associated with the investigation from the very inception of the criminal case.

In concluding remarks, the Chair thanked the participants for their constructive engagement and hoped that collective efforts would be made by the stakeholders to ensure an effective and service oriented justice system.