Model Courts in Pakistan

Justice delayed is justice denied. Timely dispensation of justice is the joint responsibility of the government.

The chief reason behind delay in dispensation of justice is obsolete system which is almost 150 years old.

Only 1700 judges are available to dispose of 1.3 million cases pending in Punjab province.

Lahore High Court alone receives 30,000 bail applications every year and that is the reason that the judiciary is burdened with 1.8 million backlog of cases.

Shortly after taking oath, Supreme Court Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had called for an end to conventional modus operandi of hearing homicide and drug related cases.

He had said that hearing on such cases should be held on daily basis.

To fulfill the promise, a draft for speedy justice was prepared on the orders of the chief justice and placed before the National Judicial Committee for approaval.

The chief justices of Lahore, Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad and Peshawar high courts and chief justice of Federal Shariat Court have given approval to the draft under which a criminal courts (Model Courts) have been set up for each district for speedy trial of cases related to murders and drugs.

As many as 114 Model Courts have started working across the country and all the departments concerned have been ordered to implement the orders of the Model Courts on priority basis.

One can hope that the Model Courts would prove to be first drop of rain and judicial reforms would soon introduced.

Apart from establishing the model courts, it is imperative that vacancies for judges should be filled and number of judges must be increased in order to provide speedy justice.

Police and prosecution system also  need to be changed to ensure the speedy trials.

Chief Justice of Pakistan himself is known for disposing of cases without unnecessary delays.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan should serve as role model for the judges of subordinate judiciary and lawyers.

The chief justice is not in the favour of judicial activism and ever since he assumed the office, he has taken only one suo motu notice, that too because  it involved  suicide of Brigadier (retd) Asad Munir, former intelligence office and Member Estate, Capital Development Authority (CDA).

The deceased in his suicide note had requested the chief justice to take notice of the circumstances which led to his death.

Chief Justice of Pakistan has taken notice of the sad incident and given his reputation we can hope that justice would be served without any delay.