ISLAMABAD: The absence of a permanent law secretary came to the attention of the Supreme Court on Tuesday when it wondered why the federal law department was not being streamlined.

“We note that there is no permanent secretary law and the government should appoint a proper law secretary with career posting forthwith instead of pursuing ad hocism,” ordered Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, adding that this would help the law department function properly with continuity.

The court expects that 30 additional accountability courts will be functional within one month

The directive came when a three-judge bench noted that a report furnished before the Supreme Court about the creation of 30 additional accountability courts in the country was signed by acting Law Secretary Raja Naeem Akbar.

Currently, 24 accountability courts are functioning in the country.

When the court inquired whether or not Raja Akbar, who had signed the report, was a permanent secretary, Additional Attorney General Sohail Mehmood conceded before the bench that the officer was officiating as an acting law secretary.

The apex court had taken up a suo motu case regarding delay in trials in the accountability courts in the light of Section 16 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) which requires deciding corruption matters within 30 days.

The suo motu proceedings were initiated when Justice Mushir Alam last year requested the chief justice to constitute a special bench and initiate suo motu proceedings over the delay in prosecuting the accused in the trial courts.

On July 8, the Supreme Court had ordered the law secretary to immediately seek instructions for setting up at least 120 accountability courts to clear a huge backlog of cases when it came to light that over 1,226 pending references since the year 2000 were still pending.

On July 23, the federal government had told the Supreme Court that a staggering Rs2.86 billion, that too every year, would be needed to run and establish 120 new accountability courts in the country as desired by the top court, adding that a huge amount of Rs23.87 million annually was needed to maintain just one such court.

On Tuesday, the law ministry informed the top court that Prime Minister Imran Khan had already issued a directive for the establishment of 30 additional accountability courts in the first phase and in this regard the finance division had already accorded approval.

The recruitment process for appointing judges for the 30 additional accountability courts will be notified most probably by Jan 11, after approval of the supplementary grants by the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet within this week.

The chief justice said the court expected the additional accountability courts to be functional within a month, adding a report signed by a permanent law secretary should be furnished to the court in this regard.

Referring to the fate of a reference against chairman of the Fateh Textile Mills Gohar Ullah Khan, which was pending before the accountability court, Karachi, since 2016, Prosecutor General of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Syed Asghar Haider told the court that out of a list of 29 witnesses, the testimonies of 18 witnesses had been recorded and cross-examined, whereas four more witnesses would be produced before the accountability court on Jan 6.

The NAB prosecutor general assured the court that the recording of the witnesses’ testimonies will be concluded on Jan 6, adding that the anti-graft watchdog may give up seven or more witnesses. He also assured the bench that efforts will be made to ensure that the case was decided within this month.

The court expressed the confidence that the accountability judge, Sindh, seized with the reference will conclude the trial expeditiously within the current month.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2021