KARACHI, Oct 31: A three-year 'Access to Justice Programme', with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank, will be implemented in the country at a cost of over $350 million.

This was stated by District and Sessions Judge Zafar Sherwani, Asian AD Technical Assistance team leader Mujib Sadozai and others speakers at a meeting organized, by the Asian Development Bank and the Planning and Development Department. The meeting was held to apprise journalists about the programme so that awareness regarding the programme could be spread among the masses.

The officials said that the AJP had been launched to implement legislative, judicial, police and administrative reforms in the country to strengthen the system of administration of justice.

They said that keeping in view reservations expressed by the masses regarding the time-consuming and expensive judicial system, the ADB and the government had carried out a study to identify issues in the system.

They said that over 90 per cent of the people interviewed said the police was corrupt, while over 65 per cent said they were not satisfied with the judiciary.

Prisoners were living in inhuman conditions in jails which were heavily overcrowded. Few vehicles were available for prisoners to take them to the courts, which was also a cause for delay in the legal process.

They said that a National Judicial Reforms Committee, headed by the chief justice of Pakistan, was formed and efforts had been made to address issues so that the judicial process could be expedited and made less expensive.

They said that under the project, courts in three districts - Abbotabad, Multan and Karachi - were selected, adding that after a couple of years, the backlog of cases in these courts had almost been settled, which had provided relief to the litigants.

They also gave figures of Karachi Central where almost 70 per cent of backlog of cases had been cleared, while almost 40 per cent of cases in the backlog in Karachi East had been settled. They said that family cases in Karachi East were now were being disposed of in five months and other cases in eight months.

It was further informed that a website, "www.karachieast. org", had also been launched and people could get all kinds of information on it. They could even make complaints, report illegal confinement, or even download an application form for succession certificate, fill it up, and submit it at the court without hiring lawyers.

An information centre had also been set up in the District and Sessions Court Karachi East that provided all relevant information.

They said that the project also stressed that improvement/reforms be brought about in the judiciary and police, both of which did not have good working conditions which included low wages, poor conditions of courts, police stations etc.

They said that judges had recently been given a judicial allowance of Rs5,000, judicial complexes were being constructed, and old court buildings were being renovated etc.

A new police order had been introduced creating two separate branches - Operations and Investigations - which had improved its working. They said that the situation would improve further once all the the public safety commissions and citizen-police liasion committees were formed.

They said that under the project, various laws had also been reviewed and improved including improvement of the Freedom of Information Act, liberalization of contempt related laws, and improvement of family laws, etc, while the Ombudsman law had been reviewed and its office had been further strengthened.

They said that the AJP would also improve the efficiency, timeliness and effectiveness in judicial, police and administrative services through improved incentives and performance management system that would promote a citizen-oriented culture.

Giving the break up of the ADB assistance, the speakers said that out of the total $350 million loan, $25 million would be allocated for the in Access to Justice fund, while $20 million would be set aside for technical assistance. The rest of $305 million would be distributed between the federal govt (getting 40 per cent i.e. $122 million or Rs7.07 billion) and the provinces (getting 60 per cent i.e. $83 million or Rs10.6 billion).

The speakers - District and Sessions Judge Zafar Sherwani, Asian AD Technical Assistance team leader Mujib Sadozai and others - said that out of the provincial quota of Rs10.6 billion, Punjab would get Rs5.4 billion, Sindh Rs2.2 billion, the NWFP Rs1.8 billion and Balochistan Rs1 billion. The distribution was done as per the NFC formula.