KARACHI, Aug 9: Legal proceedings at the drugs court tribunal in Karachi mostly remain suspended as the tribunal has been waiting for the appointment of a full-time chairman for the last four months.

Around 101 cases are pending before the tribunal which could not expedite the disposal of these cases since the present chairman and the two members of the tribunal are working on a part-time basis, it has been learnt.

The drug court tribunals have been established under Section 31 of the Drugs Act, 1976 to regulate the import, export, storage, distribution, manufacture and sale of drugs. The drugs court tribunal in Karachi was established in 1976. Initially, it was instituted for Sindh and Balochistan. Later, in 1998, the tribunal was specified for Sindh only following the formation of a drugs court in Quetta.

The drugs court tribunals comprise a chairman, who is qualified for appointment as a judge of the high court, and two members, who must be expert in medical or pharmaceutical fields.

At present, the additional charge of the chairman of the drugs court tribunal in Karachi is with Parkash Lal Hamwani, a judge of banking court No 4, Karachi, following the death of its last chairman, Mohammad Aziz Jamali, some four months back. The two other members of the tribunal are Dr Nighat Qadri and Dr Khalil Ahmed, who are working on a part-time basis.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that Dr Nighat was an employee in Sindh University while Dr Khalil was working in a private clinic, adding that the proceedings of the cases had been badly affected as neither the tribunal’s members nor the chairman was appointed on a permanent basis. They said a case could not be proceeded until the quorum of the drugs court tribunal was complete.

The sources further said that the members had been appointed on a part-time basis. Citing another factor behind the delay in the disposal of cases, they said most of the equipment of the provincial drugs laboratory had been out of order.

The tribunal had disposed of eight cases out of 109 during the last four months, they added. According to the statistics compiled by the law, justice and human rights division of the federal government, the drugs court tribunal had disposed of four out of 241 cases in 1998 while two new cases were instituted, 18 disposed of in 1999 as 105 cases were instituted, 36 cases were disposed of in 2000 while 19 were instituted. The tribunal had disposed of 162, 207 and 13 cases in 2001, 2002 and 2003, while 33, 181 and 26 new cases were instituted, respectively.

Officials associated with the drugs court tribunal said the figures indicated that its performance was “far from satisfactory”.

The sources further said that though the only drugs court tribunal of the province had been instituted in 1976 in Karachi, no proper space had been allocated for its office and it was housed in a portion of the insurance tribunal’s office near the State Life building on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, adding that the available space was not fulfilling the requirements of the tribunal.

They stated that the process of speedy disposal of cases was also disturbed since the performance of provincial drugs inspectors was not up to the mark while a few cases were being reported despite the fact that a large number of unauthorised suppliers were selling substandard and fake medicines across the province. They suggested that a strict policy should be adopted to improve the working and performance of the drug inspectors, who had a crucial role in detecting and destroying spurious drugs.

The sources further said stated that the appointment of a full-time chairman of the drugs courts tribunal in Karachi was in the pipeline as the quarters concerned had floated a summary in this regard. Besides Karachi, drugs courts tribunals have been set up in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad, Bhawalpur and Quetta.