SHANGLA: Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court Justice Yahya Afridi has said that he has been giving special attention to backward districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so the judicial services available there could be brought on a par with the developed districts.

He stated this while talking to judicial officers and members of the bar during his two-day visit to Shangla and Swat districts on Tuesday and Wednesday.

He assured the members of the bar and judiciary that courts in Alpuri Shangla and Bahrain Swat would be developed as model courts.

Justice Afridi held meetings with judges, lawyers and staff members of district judiciary.

He was briefed about the targets set to be achieved by the judiciary in the two districts.

These included pendency analysis, office automation, safe and secure environment, equipping the courts and offices with modern facilities and facilitating the litigants.

The chief justice appreciated the performance of the district and sessions judges and their staff.

Justice Afridi said the policy formulated at the time he assumed office was meant to focus on the downtrodden and far-flung districts of the province to bring them into the mainstream, and for that purpose, he had started his district visits from Kohistan.

He called for providing all possible assistance to the litigants and deputation of best judicial officers in the poverty-ridden districts.

Justice Afridi said he would personally monitor the functioning of the courts in the backward districts to help improve their performance.

BUDGET APPROVED: District council Shangla approved Rs2.9 billion non-development budget for fiscal year 2017-18 in its meeting on Wednesday.

The district council also announced two new projects under the Rokhana Shangla and district nazim healthcare programmes.

The budget session was chaired by convener Kamran Iqbal.

District nazim, opposition leader, members of treasury and opposition and line department officials were present.

District nazim Niaz Ahmed Khan said Shangla district had received fiscal commission award amount of about Rs3.16 million, of which, Rs2.475 million had been allocated for payment of salaries. He said Rs130.9 million had been allocated for non-development expenditures while Rs230 million allocated for development schemes.

The district nazim said funds were allocated for all sectors according to the provincial government guidelines.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2017