KARACHI, May 21: Prosecutors in the newly established Sindh Criminal Prosecution Service will be appointed initially on an ad-hoc basis and later all appointments will be made through the Sindh Public Service Commission.
Sindh Prosecution-General Rana Shamim told Dawn that at least 50 per cent ad-hoc prosecutors would be inducted into the department from the existing lot of prosecutors, still working under the administrative control of the home department.
He said the law officers working with the offices of the Attorney-General of Pakistan and the Advocate-General of Sindh had been given an option to join the SPSC.“However, all the appointments will be finalised on merit by the public service commission,” he added.
Mr Shamim said the law officers in the police department, commonly known as inspector legal and DSP legal, would also be given an opportunity to join the service.
He said efforts were being made to acquire complete details of criminal cases pending disposal in the trial courts.
“Moreover, the office of Sindh AG has been approached to have the details of appeals against criminal cases pending disposal in the Sindh High,” he added.
The SPG said the data and details of the appeals in the Supreme Court and the Federal Shariat Court would also be obtained shortly from the office of the Attorney-General of Pakistan. “The SCPS is expected to take over the prosecution of cases in the first week of June,” he said.
Answering a question, he said that under the provision of the SCPS Ordinance, the Prosecutor-General was empowered to issue general guidelines to the prosecutors or investigation officers for effective and efficient prosecution.
He said the prosecutor-general and the district public prosecutor were also empowered to refer to the authority, competent to initiate disciplinary proceeding under any law for the time being enforced, to take disciplinary action against any public servant working in connection with investigation or prosecution for an act committed by him and prejudicial to the prosecution.
He said the SCPS had been set up to provide speedy justice to those facing trials in criminal cases under UNDP-funded ‘Access to Justice Programme’ in the province. It was created through an ordinance by the Sindh governor on July 2006. The ordinance has since been revalidated twice but the service could not be activated due to the non-availability of prosecutors.
The purpose of the service is to establish an independent, effective and efficient service for prosecution of criminal cases to ensure professional independence, for better coordination in the criminal justice system of the province and matters incidental thereto.
Stating the responsibilities of police towards prosecutors, the ordinance says, “An officer in charge of a police station or the investigation officer shall immediately report to the district public prosecutor, the registration of each criminal case by sending a copy of the first information report; send the police report under section 173 of the code, to the concerned prosecutor within the period prescribed by law; and in an investigation is not completed or cannot be completed within the time provided under the law, record reasons for the delay and inform the prosecutors.
“An officer in charge of the police station or investigation officer shall within the time specified by the prosecutor, comply with the directions and remove the defects pointed out by the prosecutors in a police report under section 173 of the code, including report for cancellation of the first information report or request for discharge of an accused or suspect.”
Meanwhile, lawyers have given a mixed reaction on the establishment of the prosecution service.
Shahadat Awan, a noted lawyer of criminal cases, said the establishment of SCPS would lead to further complication in the criminal justice system as the lack of coordination between the investigation police and prosecutors would result in failure of the prosecution’s cases.
He apprehended that the newly created department might be used by the government for the victimisation of its political opponents. “There is no role of prosecution in the course of investigation and there should not be any intervention in the course of investigation by the prosecution service,” he said.
M. R. Syed, a leading attorney of criminal cases, said the objective of speedy disposal of the criminal cases could not be achieved merely by establishing new departments. “The number of judges in the courts is very small, and the situation will not improve unless more judges are inducted,” he said.
Mr Syed said that it would be premature to make comments on the SCPS unless it started functioning. “The desired goal can be achieved only if competent and efficient prosecutors are inducted,” he said.
He said that FIR (first information report) was one of the most important and crucial documents in the process of litigation and defective FIRs were one of the major causes behind the failure of prosecution in the criminal cases.
“The FIR is written by a matriculate policeman at the police station. Instead, there should be two law officers, competent and efficient, for writing out FIRs,” he suggested.
Khwaja Naveed, a reputed lawyer of criminal cases, welcomed the establishment of the SCPS, but said that trained and efficient prosecutors should be inducted into the service. “There should be a process of accountability for police investigators and prosecutors,” he said.
He said the creation of new departments could not alone improve the quality of investigation and prosecution. “The basic pre-requisite for successful prosecution of cases is trained and efficient investigators and prosecutors,” he added.
