April 11, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 10: The plan to establish a federal high court (FHC) in Islamabad has hit political and bureaucratic snags, a source in the judiciary told Dawn on Monday. The source requesting not to be named, said the plan was being opposed by the bureaucracy who considered it as a hanging sword on them.

The plan is also being opposed by the Pakistan Bar Council.

All cases related to the federal capital are filed in Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench which is already overburdened causing delay in hearing of a large number of cases.

“The bureaucracy in Islamabad would come under pressure if the federal high court was set up in the capital because it would be an easy access to justice for the citizens,” said the source.

The PBC is also against the establishment of the court and it is likely to take up the issue at its Quetta meeting next month.

“The plan to set up the federal high court has almost been shelved,” a senior lawyer said.

He said the federal government had 28 different departments and if the FHC was formed all cases relating to these departments would be tried in the proposed court instead of LHC.

The decision to set up the FHC was made some years ago to minimise load of cases on the LHC Rawalpindi bench and the local courts in the capital.

The ministry of interior had directed the Islamabad administration to prepare a report on the issue and assess legal requirements and work load of cases in the federal capital.

The government was also reviewing the constitutional standing of the FHC before its establishment.

The source said the capital had the status of a province and the chief commissioner Islamabad enjoyed the powers of a governor. Therefore, the FHC should have been established many years ago.

The establishment of the FHC was an old demand of the people of Islamabad as presently the people of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are totally dependable on the LHC.

Another source said thousands of appeals and cases were filed in the LHC from Islamabad and the people of Islamabad had to cover a long distance of over 35 kilometres to reach the LHC bench in Rawalpindi.

The source said all local courts in Islamabad were working under the LHC and even for petty matters lawyers and judges of Islamabad have to approach the LHC.

He said like the public, local lawyers community was also facing problems due to unavailability of a federal court in the capital city.

The local lawyers’ community lamented that lawyers and judges having the domicile of Islamabad could not become a judge of any high court, because Islamabad did not fall under the jurisdiction of any province and was considered a separate province.

In reply to a question, the source said FHCs were working in different countries including India.

When asked what would be the constitutional standing of the FHC if established in the capital, he said the government had to make necessary amendments to the Constitution or promulgate an ordinance for the formation of the court.