LAHORE, Aug 22: A controversy between home and law departments on heading proposed independent prosecution service is delaying its constitution in the Punjab and elsewhere in the country.

The service is an essential part of police reforms and is aimed at providing an independent prosecution setup so as to pursue cases in courts effectively and in a systematic manner.

Sources told Dawnon Friday that the federal government was pressing hard for the creation of the service. But despite the pressure there had been no development in this regard, they said, claiming the same situation also existed in the other provinces.

The sources said the Punjab government had already sent a draft of the bill giving legal cover to the service and prescribing its working and structure to the provincial cabinet for approval.

The draft had been prepared in the light of a model sent to all provinces by the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) but the question whether the service would be headed by the law or the home department was hindering its approval, the sources claimed.

They said the law department was claiming the service on the ground that it involved pursuing of cases in courts which was the job of only law officers.

Whereas, the sources claimed, the home department was insisting on heading the service on the ground that dispensation of criminal justice was its responsibility.

The sources claimed that the federal government had directed to keep the service under the home department. But the matter required a decision by the provincial governments.