KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has made easy the process to furnish bail sureties as applicants, or their family members, can deposit cash in designated bank accounts after getting bail from subordinate judiciary, officials said.

Known as the deposit slip mechanism, the move is hailed by the legal fraternity, which said that it will make the process more transparent and expeditious.

The mechanism has been enforced at the City Courts, which house four district courts of the city — South, East, West and Central — as well as the District Courts in Malir.

When contacted, SHC Registrar Suhail Muhammad Laghari told Dawn that initially, this initiative has been enforced in the district judiciary of the provincial metropolis and this facility may be extended to facilitate litigants in other districts, keeping in view the difficulties faced there.

Surety bonds replaced by cash deposit slip mechanism in city’s subordinate judiciary

The court officials said that the deposit slip procedure was enforced at the SHC and the same was familiarised in the City Courts to replace surety bonds/national savings certificates only in order to expedite the process.

The practice of submitting documents of vehicles and properties as surety in courts is still in place, but verification and valuation of such papers is a time-consuming task, they added.

In January, the then chief justice of SHC, Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, had granted permission for enforcing the deposit slip mechanism in place of surety bonds of the government securities in the branch of a private bank at the City Courts on the pattern of the SHC, in order to avoid inconvenience to lawyers and litigants.

The registrar SHC had issued letters to the district and sessions judges concerned for enforcement of such a mechanism.

Thereafter, the district judges had issued necessary instructions to all the judicial officers concerned for enforcement of such a procedure.

In March, the SHC also issued letters to the district judges concerned on account of the shifting of the private bank’s branch from the City Courts and nominated the National Bank of Pakistan City Courts branch for such a purpose.

Therefore, the drawing and disbursing officers of the judicial districts concerned had opened an account for each district under the title of “Surety Account” with the NBP City Courts branch.

As per the procedure, the surety desirous of depositing an amount as surety in the bank accounts in question may receive a voucher from the respective court, duly signed by the clerk of court (COC) with the seal of the court, which may be presented to the bank, and the receipt of the bank after depositing the amount may be considered as surety after proper verification from the bank by the respective court.

The court officials said it is also being ensured that deposits are made through the provided mechanism and that necessary documentation is completed. The bank vouchers also contain the names of relevant courts, details of offences, case number, police stations, FIR number and other requisite details, they added.

On Aug 6, the registrar SHC had issued another circular introducing the same mechanism for the District Courts Malir.

It said, “In continuation of this court’s letter dated 06.03.2025, on the subject noted above, I am directed to state that the Hon’ble Chief Justice [Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar] has been pleased to grant permission for enforcing deposit slip mechanism in place of surety bonds of the government securities in the NBP Malir City Branch for the District and Sessions Court Malir on the pattern of judicial district Karachi-South, East, West and Central”.

The general secretary of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA), Rehman Korai, said that the KBA had requested the SHC to introduce the deposit slip procedure at the City Courts.

Besides, as cases of fake sureties were reported, the lawyers and their clients had also been facing hardship in obtaining surety bonds/national savings certificates and it was also taking a great deal of time, he added.

Mr Korai was of the view that the new mechanism was more transparent and expeditious, and that litigants and lawyers were benefiting from such a facility.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2025