ISLAMABAD: After a lapse of six decades, a state-of-the-art district courts complex has finally been established in the federal capital as the outgoing chief justice of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Athar Minallah inaugurated it on Tuesday.

Chief justice designate of IHC Justice Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhatar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Arbab Mohammad Tahir, judges of sessions court, chairman of Capital Development Authority (CDA), members of Islamabad Bar Council, president and secretary of Islamabad Bar Association and senior lawyers of the federal capital attended the inaugural ceremony held in the district courts complex located in sector G-11 of Islamabad.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Minallah who has been recommended by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan for elevation in the Supreme Court said that the district courts were never a priority of the executive.

He praised the CDA and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) for completing the project in just eight months.

He said that the objective of this project was to serve the litigants who reach courts against public sector departments and to resolve civil and criminal issues. He said that most of them belong to the under privileged class, therefore, they were not the priority of the state.

He directed the federal government to commence construction work of district courts. The chief justice had also issued directives to constitute a committee comprising interior, planning and law and justice secretaries to coordinate for expeditious completion of the district court complex. The cost of the project was Rs1,470 million. The work included construction of 74 courtrooms, proper sitting areas for litigants, a cafeteria, bar room and the press room.

The new building of the IHC has also been completed and Justice Minallah has scheduled to inaugurate this building on Wednesday (today).

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2022