LAHORE, May 21: Around 1,100 public prosecutors recruited by the previous government in the province will soon be relieved of their offices as the law department is moving a summary to the effect within a week.
Provincial law and parliamentary affairs minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told Dawn here on Wednesday that the public prosecution system introduced by the PML-Q government was not flawed in principle but recruitment of the officers based on political affiliations and nepotism badly damaged it.
“All these prosecutors will be replaced with officers to be recruited on contractual basis as a stopgap arrangement till the filling of these vacancies through the Punjab Public Service Commission,” the minister said.
A summary to relieve the incumbent prosecutors would be moved by the department in a week, he said, hoping people to be selected through the PPSC would surely give better results.
The PML-N administration would not make any appointment against the set rules, he asserted.
The law minister said that he had planned a working group to review all the past legislation and identify lacunas, if any. The proposed group would also suggest amendments to the flawed legislation, he added.
The proposed group, he said, would comprise bar representatives, legislators and government officials.
Improvement of the Local Government Ordinance and Police Order 2002 would be at the top of group’s agenda, he said, adding the provincial government to be led by Mian Shahbaz Sharif wanted to introduce a system that would remain viable for the next 100 years.He said he had suggested to PML-N leadership to talk to the federal government for exclusion of two ordinances introduced by the army ruler from the sixth schedule of the Constitution through the package proposed by the PPP. The laws covered in the sixth schedule could not be amended without the formal nod of the President.
Not satisfied with the effectiveness of the important laws like the Consumer Protection Act made by the previous provincial assembly, the law minister said such pieces of legislation would be improved instead of repealing them altogether.
He said he would prefer an open debate in the house on all amendments made in the laws and that the working group would also take into account the recommendations to be made by the house.
Asked if the government would consider enhancing the farm tax exemption limit from 12 to 25 acres as had been the demand of the PML-N and PPP when both the parties were in the opposition in the last assembly, he said as the step required a substantial study it might not be taken up in the forthcoming budget.Answering a question about improving the law and order situation, the minister said the government would handle the issue in a comprehensive way.
“You cannot get the desired results just by improving one department. Even judges honest to the core will fail to provide justice if investigators or prosecutors are inefficient or corrupt.”