July 23, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, July 22: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhary has said recommendations have been sent to the government to fill the vacant posts of judges in the superior courts to remove the shortage.

He was talking to reporters after inaugurating the new block at the Rawalpindi Bench of the LHC here on Saturday.

At present, 17 posts of judges are lying vacant in the Lahore High Court. Recommendations for the appointment of 12 judges have been sent to the government, he added.

In the subordinate courts also, about 30 to 40 posts of additional session judges and 250 posts of civil judges are lying vacant. Anyhow, this shortage notwithstanding, our courts have decided a record number of cases (1.4 million) during the last one year, he said.

“Funds for Access to Justice Programme are being released by the government. We have no specific say in this. The Asian Development Bank has stopped finances for Access to Justice Programme. Anyhow, we have been receiving funds for this programme according to our requirements from the federal and provincial governments. And we have no problem in this respect,” Justice Chaudhry said.

Those present on the occasion included LHC judges Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha, Justice Mohammad Muzzamel Khan, Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, and Justice Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah, additional registrar Arshad Mehmood Cheema, Rawalpindi Bar President Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi, High Court Bar President Chaudhary Mohammad Tariq, senior lawyers Chaudhary Afrasiyab, Raja Iftikhar Javed, Malik Qamar Afzal, Shamshadullah Cheema, Tanvir Iqbal, Mudassir Khalid Abbasi.

The additional block has a record room, copy branch and offices of law officers. The chief justice inspected different sections and expressed satisfaction over the standard of construction work and its timely completion.