KARACHI, Nov 26: Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed said on Sunday that steps were being taken to ensure monitoring of all lower courts of the province.

Giving his comments on the papers presented at the Annual Judicial Conference-2006 under the Access to Justice Programme (AJP) held in the Sindh High Court building, he said a process was under way for selecting judges for effective monitoring.

Chairman of Development Committee of the SHC Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffri, Justice Arif Hussain Khilji, Project Director of the AJP, Afzal Kahoot, Judicial Reform Specialist of the AJP Justice (retd) Attaur Rehman and all the judges of Sindh were present on the occasion.

Four papers were presented at the conference by Khairpur District Judge Akhlaque Hussain Larik, Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate of Dadu Ijaz Khaskheli, District Judge of Hyderabad Zaffar Ahmed Khan and District Judge of Kambar at Shahdadkot Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui.

The first two papers mainly consisted of suggestions to improve the recruitment and promotion policy for judicial officers while the other two suggested proposals regarding automation and effective quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the courts.

The chief justice appreciated the suggestions, saying due considerations would be given to the same for their incorporation in the relevant government policies.

With regard to the time targets given to the courts, he stressed the need for provision of realistic time targets keeping in view the ground realities.

Replying to a question regarding shortage of staff in lower courts, Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed said it was being ensured that required staff was provided to the courts keeping in view the magnitude of their work load and responsibilities. In this regard, he suggested that district judges should assess the situation and send a requisition to the high court, which would take up the matter with the federal government.

Regarding recruitment of judicial officers, he said that it had been made mandatory for newly recruited officers to go through six-month training at the Judicial Academy and pass a test before assuming their official responsibilities.

Commenting on the qualitative evaluation of the courts’ performance, the chief justice said: “Our job is not only to dispose of cases but to dispense justice”.

He said qualitative evaluation was more difficult than quantitative evaluation, and added that the suggestion proposed in the paper in this regard would be given serious thought.

Replying to a question, he said a large number of court offices and residential complexes were being built in the province for judicial officers besides making available proper transport facilities for them.Later, a prize distribution was held in which those judicial officers who performed outstandingly were given laptops and Rs20,000 each for purchasing law books.—APP