PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth on Saturday inaugurated hostel of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy, which has been completed at a cost of Rs230 million.

Addressing a function on the occasion, Justice Seth said the hostel was badly needed since the establishment of the judicial academy in 2012 as the officials receiving training had to be provided accommodation in hotels and private hostels.

He said establishment of the hostel would help save Rs8 million to Rs9 million of the academy. He thanked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for timely provision of funds for the project, and hoped the government would also assist the high court in early completion of other pending projects.

The high court chief justice hailed the performance of the academy’s director general and other staff as well as government officials involved in the project.

Also launches e-file tracking system in high court

The judicial academy’s director general Ziauddin Khattak said the academy had been imparting training to judicial officers, lawyers, police officials, prosecutors, probation officers, adding during last over two years it had conducted 160 trainings involving around 4,000 officials. He said next month they would be arranging online training for senior civil judges.

He said construction of the hostel had started in 2018, adding it had capacity of accommodating 60 persons. He said the hostel was having separate wings for males and females.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Seth also launched File Tracking System (FTS) on the premises of the high court.

The system will ensure fast-track movement of files, their retrieval, and swift tracking of the location of the files within the organisation. This system is aimed at realising the concept of a paperless office. The solution is a simulation of the movement of physical files in electronic form.

According to a press release, the existing manual file work system requiring greater human effort is deficient on many counts. Realising the importance of good office management, the Peshawar High Court had trained its staff in office management procedure.

The e-file tracking system, a web-based application, would enable officers and employees to maintain a consistent watch over the movement of various important files and receipts at different levels in the process of decision making.

The system will bring transparency, visibility, in-time check and balance and proper follow up procedures to official work.

The release said the PHC was committed to using the innovative technologies and converting the existing business processes of the court to digital form for better service delivery.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2020