PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Yahya Afridi said on Saturday that seven model tehsil courts would be set up in as many tehsils in the first phase and then in rest of tehsils/districts by allocating necessary budget.

As part of structural reforms and to scale up service delivery, the PHC chief justice chaired the first Tehsil Bar Presidents Conference on the premises of the high court. Important recommendations were made on tackling issues hampering the dispensation of justice and improving service delivery in tehsil courts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Members of the Pakistan Bar Council and KP Bar Council also attended the conference. The chief justice shared with the forum the objectives of the conference.

Presidents of tehsil bar associations (TBAs) spoke on the occasion for five minutes each highlighting the issues being faced by TBAs and gave proposals for bringing improvement in dispensation of justice.

The chief justice responded to each of the presidents and assured them that no stone would be left unturned to address their issues.

He said that seven model tehsil courts were being set up in Booni, Wari, Tangi, Banda Daud Shah, Balakot, Paharpur and Bahrain tehsils in the first phase, and later such courts would be established in rest of the tehsils/districts by allocating necessary budget.

He said that each model court would have a library, courtrooms, record rooms, computers, scanners, alternative energy source, female litigants’ sheds/toilets and lawyers’ shed.

The chief justice assured them that young lawyers would be trained in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy whose nominations would be made by the TBAs.

He said that a case of 49 civil judges had already been sent to the KP Public Service Commission for early recruitment. He appreciated the presidents of TBAs for their interest in the conference.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2017