LAHORE, July 23: The Punjab government is working on reforms for establishing coordination between police investigation officers (IOs) and the prosecution service. This was stated by provincial law minister Basharat Raja while formally launching the Punjab Prosecution Service here on Monday. He was representing Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi who had to rush to Islamabad for some urgent work.

Responding to a suggestion earlier made by prosecution department secretary Shaigan Sharif about establishing provincial law commission for amending the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and other such laws, the minister said that work on it was already going on and police investigation reforms would soon be announced.

He said in the beginning the coordination between the IOs and prosecutors would be instituted in high-profile cases.

Dispelling the impression that no criteria were set up for recruiting lawyers for the service, he said the recruits were being scrutinised by a committee set up under an order of the Lahore High Court.

Raja said a forensic agency, to be the first in any province, would also be formed in Punjab shortly as a bill to the effect is likely to be approved by the provincial assembly in its next session.

He also revealed that a Defenders Service, meant for providing legal help to the accused who, being poor, could not afford services of a lawyer, would also be set up in the near future as a bill for the purpose had already been referred to the PA standing committee for whetting it.

The minister said like the prosecution service, the new department would also create job opportunities for lawyers.

He called for devising some mechanism to monitor performance of prosecutors and promised perks and privileges for them, accordingly.

Chief Secretary Salman Siddique on the occasion promised to remove the technical hurdles in local and foreign training of prosecutors, who had been recruited on contract.

Mr Sharif was not optimistic about increase in conviction rate even after the introduction of the service arguing “the courts were the same, which might not agree with the arguments of prosecutors.”

Prosecutor-general Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said that his subordinates were demanding better wages, official residences and transport.