PESHAWAR, May 9 The Peshawar High Court (PHC) is monitoring disposal of cases on district-level on a daily basis and has finalised proposals for tackling issues of delay in disposal of cases and corruption in the judiciary.

PHC Registrar Qalandar Ali Khan said on Saturday that the proposals would be presented at a meeting of the National Judicial Policy Committee (NJPC) to be presided over by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on May 16 in Islamabad.

He said that before that, registrars of the Supreme Court, high courts and the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) would meet on May 15.

Mr Qalandar was talking to media persons after a meeting chaired by PHC Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and attended by judges of the high court, presidents of the PHC Bar Association, its circuit benches at Abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan, and senior advocates.

The meeting was convened to finalise proposals in accordance with the directives issued during a meeting of the NJPC on April 18 and 19, which was also attended by the chief justices of the high courts and the FSC.

Mr Qalandar said that at the previous meeting of the NJPC, Chief Justice Chaudhry had emphasised on two prime issues delay in disposal of cases and corruption in the judiciary. In the light of that meeting, he added, recommendations were sought from the high courts and other stakeholders.

The registrar said they had categorised pending cases in different courts.

He added “The target cases include those pertaining to family courts, rent, stay orders, small claims and minor offences and those cases pending for more than a year.”

About the situation in Malakand, the registrar stated that the said issue was not discussed in the meeting. He added that they had played their role, whenever required in the Malakand crisis, as when they were approached by the government formally the high court's Chief Justice, Tariq Pervez Khan, recommended two judges for the Darul Qaza forthwith.

The registrar further pointed out that the government had already approved 100 new posts of judicial officers 94 civil judges (ilaqa qazi) and six additional district and sessions judges (izafi zila qazi), which were required under the recently promulgated Nizam-i-Adl Regulation.

Presently, Mr Qalandar said, the law enforcement agencies were engaged against militants, curfew was imposed and influx of displaced persons were reaching different areas therefore it was not possible for courts to operate in different parts of Malakand.

“The Saturday meeting was very positive as the senior advocates have also agreed that delay in disposal of cases is not good for the institution and they have to play a vital role in addressing this issue,” he said adding that they had also expectations from media and other stakeholders to come forward and support the judiciary on these issues.

Mr Qalandar said that the lawyers agreed that unnecessary adjournment of cases should be avoided.

He informed that the district and sessions judges had also held meetings at the district-level with judicial officers and members of the bar and sought their opinion on these issues.