LAHORE, April 20: The Lahore High Court has declared Fridays as ‘green days’ and reserved the days for hearing of environment-related cases by ‘green benches’ at the high court and ‘green courts’ in districts.

LHC Registrar Sohail Nasir said this at a press briefing on Friday that was aimed at educating the masses through the media about functioning and purpose of green benches/ courts. Mr Nasir said the judges appointed to green benches/courts would hear only environment-related cases every Friday. He said the benches would not only deliver judgments, but also provide solution to environmental hazards.

He said 36 district and sessions judges and 109 civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates had been nominated to hold green courts at district and tehsil level. These judges will be given training at the Judicial Academy so that they could deal with environment related cases efficiently, he added.

The registrar informed the media the high court would ask the federal government to fill the vacant slot of the Punjab Environmental Tribunal chairman so that cases of environment issues could be taken up.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Shujaat Ali Khan joined the occasion and sought media recommendations on the issue. Both judges had been nominated to hold green benches (single and division) at the LHC principal seat in Lahore.