September 16, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 03, 1428

HARIPUR, Sept 15: At a capacity-building conference, speakers underlined the need for bridging the communication gap between the judiciary and the public and demanded that the role of the Public Safety Commissions and the Citizen-Court Liaison Committees (CCLCs) be formulated in such a way that the goal of access to justice by common people was achieved.

The conference entitled ‘‘Capacity Building of Citizens-Court Liaison Committee Hazara Region’’ was organised by the district judiciary of Haripur which was attended by the district judges of Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan and Shangla here on Saturday.

The participants, who included district naib nazims,

presidents of district bars and district judges, shared their

success stories pertaining to speedy justice and the facilities provided to the litigants getting their court-related problems

resolved.

The participants also agreed to a suggestion over making

the court language more

understandable for litigants and disposing of cases within a period of two to three years as required by the Peshawar High Court.

The district judges made it clear that there was hardly any case pending beyond three years as, according to the instructions of the high court, they were supposed to dispose of all cases within the stipulated period.

Speakers also laid emphasis on creating awareness among the public about their legal rights as well as the role and responsibilities of the CCLCs because, according to them, the CCLCs had an important role to play vis-a-vis speedy delivery of justice.

The district judges discussed the performance, problems and achievements of the Citizen-Court Liaison Committees of their respective districts and shared with participants the success stories about putting an end to the fleecing of litigants at the hands of appeal writers, stamp vendors and plaint writers.

They also pointed out that

the district judiciary, despite several constraints, remained sympathetic to litigants irrespective of their status and affiliation.

Ibrahim Khan, district judge of Haripur, briefed the participants on the steps taken so far regarding creating awareness among the public about legal rights.

Qabool Shah, district judge

of Kohistan, Khalid Amin,

district judge of Mansehra, Mufti Kifayatullah, district

naib nazim of Mansehra,

Maj (retd) Safdar Zaman, district naib nazim of Haripur, Nawat Swati, president of district bar, Haripur, Mehdi Zaman, president of district bar, Abbottabad, were prominent among those who spoke on the occasion.