Tussle for control of new service not resolved: Departments refuse to change stand
By Intikhab Hanif
LAHORE, April 4: A Punjab cabinet committee has yet to resolve the tussle between the home and the law departments regarding the control of the proposed independent prosecution service
whose creation is linked to a multi-million Asian Development Bank loan.
Constituted by the Punjab cabinet, the committee is headed by Law Minister Raja Basharat and comprises Education Minister Imran Masood besides secretaries of the home and the law departments.
The service is a part of the Access to Justice Programme for which the ADB had released $ 130 million in the first instance. The second tranche of $90 million is linked to the service whose creation is being delayed because of the tug-of-war between the two departments.
The NWFP government has recently placed the service under its home department. Official sources said on Sunday the committee has met once since its constitution several months ago but without the education minister who was outstation.
They said the law minister presided over the meeting which remained inconclusive. Nevertheless, he heard the point of view of both the departments which stuck to their guns.
Sources said the home department officials pleaded that the new service should be placed under them in pursuance of a related decision by the federal cabinet. They said at least the service at the district level should be placed under the home department for better management of law and order which was its subject.
The law department officials pleaded that the federal cabinet decision about giving the service under the command of the home department was made hastily because at that time it was dealing with police reforms.
They contended that giving the district attorneys under the command of the home department would disrupt the chain of government's network of backing prosecution cases.
This was so because many cases intitiated at the district level were normally concluded at the Supreme Court, involving the advocate-general of the Punjab whose office functioned under the law department as provided under the constitution, the sources said.
The law department officials said it required to amend the constitution to place the entire system of prosecution under the command of the home department.Sources said the law department officials further argued that prosecution was not an administrative affair and required supervision by those in legal service.
The supervision of the new service by the law department would only help the government prepare flawless cases and properly pursue them in the courts of law. About the decision by the NWFP goverment, the sources said every province was free to introduce the service according to its own convenience. It was a provincial subject and every province had a right to handle it, they claimed.
