ISLAMABAD, July 22: Courts to try cases of small claims and minor offences are likely to be set up in the country in a month's time as the government has issued a notification for implementing an ordinance on the subject , a senior government official said on Thursday.

The notification about the Small Claims and Minor Offences Ordinance 2002 was issued on July 15 requesting the chief justices of the four high courts to designate judges for the small claims and minor offences courts, Law Secretary Mansoor Ahmed told Dawn.

"The establishment of such courts in different districts and tehsils, however, would take more than a month," he said.

The notification was issued in line with the May 29 directions of the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC), asking the government to enforce the ordinance, which was promulgated in 2002, at the earliest.

The basic objective of the law is to provide expeditious justice to the litigants without their having to incur a heavy cost.

These courts are to be conducted by civil judge-cum-judicial magistrates who will expeditiously adjudicate suits for claims of less than Rs100,000.

They will also decide cases involving offences whose prescribed imprisonment is less than three years.

The law secretary said civil judges from the existing strength of the subordinate judiciary would be designated for the small claims and minor offences courts.

The law prescribes a summary procedure for trials of such suits and offences in addition to mechanism and procedure for an amicable settlement of disputes between parties through arbitration, mediation or conciliation.

If an amicable settlement is reached, it should be enforced as a decree or order of the court, the law secretary said. If no compromise is reached, the court will proceed to decide the matter through summary trial procedures within 60 days.