21 January 2005	Friday	10 Zilhaj 1425

ISLAMABAD, Jan 20: The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has taken serious notice of the unduly burdening of the high court by challenging unnecessarily orders of the lower judiciary and said decisions of the sessions judges should be given due respect and consideration.

"Currently, the purpose of empowering sessions judges is being stultified and balked," Justice Shabbar Raza Rizvi observed while dismissing a petition of Syed Sakhawat Hussain Shah against the station house officer of Kalar Syedan over a land dispute.

Sessions judges/additional sessions judges have been conferred with powers under Section 22-A (Power of the Justice of the Peace) and 22-B (Duties of the Justice of the Peace) of the Criminal Procedure Code to lessen the burden of the high court, said Justice Rizvi in his order.

The petitioner had sought a direction from the high court against the SHO for not registering a case against his opponents in a land dispute at Kalar Syedan.

Earlier, the petitioner had filed a similar application before the additional sessions judge Rawalpindi, seeking instructions against the SHO to register the case. The additional sessions judge directed the SHO to submit a report regarding the land.