ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Federal Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights Mohammad Wasi Zafar has urged stakeholders and implementing agencies to further speed up judicial reforms.

He was presiding over a high-level meeting of the Access to Justice Programme (AJP) here on Friday.

The meeting was arranged by the AJP Programme Management Unit to review the status of justice sector reforms agenda.

Federal Law Secretary Justice (retired) Mansoor Ahmed and Programme Director, Access to Justice Programme, Mohammad Afzal Kahut were also present in the meeting.

The minister emphasised to expedite financial reforms process in the four high courts so that they could adopt Mid-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) in the next fiscal year.

Mr Zafar also highlighted the importance of public awareness on their legal rights. Every citizen will be made aware of the legal procedures so that they could have easy access to justice, he added.

He also asked the Access to Justice Programme Programme Management Unit to chalk out a comprehensive strategy and plan of action to further enhance the capacity of the Federal Judicial Academy.

Justice (retired) Mansoor Ahmed urged the consulting firms to accomplish their tasks within the given timeframe.

He said there was a dire need to enhance and expand the Access to Justice Programme capacity building programme for the judicial officers.

The judiciary shall be imparted new skills and techniques in Delay Reduction, Fiscal Management, Case-flow management and Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR), he noted, adding that it would significantly reduce the case-load on courts in time efficient manner.

Earlier, Mohammad Afzal Kahut, the Access to Justice Programme programme director, briefed the meeting about various initiatives undertaken and tasks accomplished so far by the AJP team.