PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan has said that they have been specially focusing on the functioning of district judiciary in the merged tribal districts and there are different projects related to those areas.

He stated that for providing speedy and cheap justice to the inhabitants of the merged districts, vast pieces of land had been acquired for construction of judicial complexes in Bajaur, Kurram, Mohmand, South and North Waziristan districts.

Addressing the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected cabinet of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) on Saturday night, the chief justice stated that judges and lawyers were like an extended family and each one of them had been playing role in provision of justice to the people.

The ceremony was also addressed by the newly-elected PHCBA president Rahman Ullah and secretary general Farooq Afridi besides the outgoing secretary general Qaiser Zaman and attended by judges of the high court and lawyers in a large number.

Work under way on 70 uplift projects for lawyers, litigants

The PHC chief justice said that the relations between the bar and the bench in the province were exemplary and they had jointly been striving for rule of law here. He hoped that the new cabinet would also support the bench in its different initiatives taken for the welfare of people.

He said that around 70 judiciary-related development projects had been in progress in different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which would help in mitigating problems being faced by litigants and lawyers.

He said that these projects also included construction of a multi-billion-rupee car parking plaza near the high court in Peshawar, which was a longstanding demand of the lawyers.

The chief justice stated that he and other judges of the high court had been paying special attention to these development schemes as their completion would provide relief to the lawyers and litigants.

Earlier, the chief justice administered oath to the office-bearers of the association.

On this occasion, newly-elected PHCBA president Rahman Ullah put forward different demands. He stated that there should be specialised benches of the high court for hearing relevant cases, including that of criminal, civil, banking and constitutional matters, which would help in early disposal of outstanding cases in the court.

He also requested that the closing time for hearing of cases might be set at 2.30pm and after that only those cases should be taken up for hearing wherein the counsel of both the parties were present and prepared to advance arguments.

He mentioned the problem being faced by the lawyers and litigants to park their vehicles near the high court and requested for early construction of a multi-storey parking plaza.

Moreover, the PHCBA president highlighted the importance of providing different facilities, including proper libraries, to lawyers in the merged districts.

He said that the legal fraternity would continue to strive for upholding supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law in the country in general and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2022