Urgent reforms required for early provision of justice to litigants: IHC CJ Athar Minallah

APP

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Athar Minallah on Thursday said that it was the responsibility of the state to introduce reforms for rapid provision of justice to the litigants.

He was addressing a seminar titled “Rapid Provision of Justice” in Islamabad. The chief justice said that our civil and criminal courts system was hundred years old, adding that the world had changed but we had the same laws.

He said that the biggest problem was delay in the provision of justice, adding that corruption was also another factor.

The executive was also responsible for the problems in the judicial system, he added.  The chief justice said that the district courts and police system were not properly functional in the country, adding that there was no prosecution system in district courts for the last sixty years.

There was an urgent need for judicial reforms to ensure timely justice to the public, he said, adding that the state had never given priority to the district judiciary.

The chief justice said that they had initiated reform projects in IHC that would be helpful to improve the public confidence in the judiciary. He further said that the IHC also took measures with regard to the dispute management and also engaged the stakeholders.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Miangul Hassan said that it was necessary to take measures towards the dispute resolution system. He said that there were millions of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) centers in Turkiye, adding that it would reduce the burden on the judiciary.  Justice Miangul said that we would have hundred experienced mediator lawyers related to taxation, property, commercial banking and other laws in ADR centers till October. The court would send legal matters to these centers through mediator lawyers, he said.

He said that the federal government had to cooperate for implementation on mediation law. Several countries in the world had adopted the arbitration laws and were benefiting from it to the public, he concluded.