ISLAMABAD: The law ministry on Tuesday informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) will approve the PC-1 of the Islamabad’s District Courts Complex, comprising 91 courts and having allied facilities for litigants, on March 31 (today).

Secretary Law Raja Naeem Akbar appeared before the IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Tuesday during hearing of the petition seeking construction of courts complex in the federal capital.

He said following the approval from the CDWP, the summary for the construction of the courts complex would be tabled before the federal cabinet on Thursday He apprised the court that he visited the Federal Judicial Complex on Monday to assess the administrative difficulties faced by judges of special courts.

He also informed the IHC that a separate five acre plot was being allotted for establishing facilities for the litigants and the lawyers at the complex.

The court was also informed that two five acre plots have been allotted for construction of separate judicial complexes for the District (west) and (east), respectively. One of the plots is vacant while on the other the Islamabad High Court has been temporarily established.

The plot is in the name of the Ministry of Law and Justice and the planning and construction of the building is subject to strict compliance with the enforced laws, he said.

He expressed the hope that the construction of a Judicial Complex on the vacant plot will be sufficient to meet the requirements at this stage.

Justice Minallah observed that while not much had been done to upgrade the appallingly deplorable conditions of the District Courts in the last four decades, a process of reform had been initiated in the past two years to improve the district judiciary. He appreciated the response received from the Federal Government.

Earlier, the Secretary, Ministry of Interior has informed the court that the prime minister had directed the government functionaries to give top priority to establishing state of the art judicial complex at the vacant plot so that the District courts could be shifted from F-8.

He assured on behalf of the Federal Government that no stone would be left unturned to complete the project in the shortest possible time. He further informed the court that a committee would be constituted having representatives of all the departments concerned so that the construction of the judicial complex was not delayed.

The chief justice remarked that the district courts were the most important tier of the judicial branch because it mostly served those who were not privileged.

He said it was a constitutional obligation of the state to ensure that the actual stakeholders were able to exercise the right to meaningful access to the courts.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2021