PESHAWAR: The Provincial Justice Committee on Friday decided to digitise the records of criminal cases in the province.

It also decided that the prosecution and police would work together after the registration of criminal cases.

The committee met here with Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth in the chair.

The committee is the apex provincial body tasked with ensuring ‘effective administration, operation and development of a fair, impartial and inclusive rule of law and organisations, and address the law, justice and security challenges in the province’.

It had discussed on Aug 28 the implementation of its past decisions, including the nomination of focal persons by member departments, development of IT infrastructure, liaison of the home department with the Human Rights Cell of the high court, revamping of criminal justice system, development of a mechanism for effective implementation of the probation and parole laws, coordination between the prosecution and the police, digitisation of court records, development of procedure for the appointment of law officers, and preparation of the draft laws.

The committee had also deliberated the high court’s infrastructure and human resource requirements and the establishment of the provincial office of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan.

Justice committee says prosecution, police to work together on these cases

In the Friday meeting, high court registrar Khawaja Wajihuddin gave a presentation on the need for the enactment of the draft Judicial Service Act and other justice sector legislation.

He said judicial independence lied at the foundation of the administration of justice and it was shaped by the relations among the government’s branches.

The committee decided that the standard operating procedures already circulated among member departments would be followed for the future progress of the PJC meetings.

It said focal persons of all departments would meet every month to discuss the issues of the criminal justice system.

The member departments agreed that they all would fix a performance bench mark for the next year and submit progress report to the next PJC meeting to be held on Dec 18.

The committee decided that the courts would be established in the subdivisions of Khyber and South Waziristan tribal districts as soon as the infrastructure was put in place by the government.

The chief justice said he hoped that collective efforts by stakeholders would ensure the introduction of an effective and service-oriented justice system in the province.

The meeting was also attended by provincial advocate general Shumail Ahmad Butt and provincial police chief Sanaullah Abbasi.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2020