PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Musarrat Hilali has called upon the district judiciary to ensure swift disposal of family cases and that of under-trial prisoners, which would help in reinforcing trust of the people in the judiciary.

Chairing a meeting of all the district and sessions judges of the province here, PHC chief justice discussed several important issues including family cases, pendency of the cases related to under-trial prisoners and performance of district judiciary.

The judges of administrative committee including Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Justice Abdul Shakoor and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim also attended the meeting.

The family court judge, the PHC chief justice said, should play a proactive role in consolidating the social fabric by making strenuous efforts to resolve family disputes between the parties amicably through persuasive conciliatory sessions. She stressed the need for concluding family cases within the statutory timeline.

Calls upon govt to sanction more judges for high court

As a result of her personal visits to several jails of the province after assuming the office, she said, she came to know about the miserable conditions of prisoners due to overcrowding coupled with lack of facilities. She emphasised the compelling need for prompt conclusion of the cases of under-trial prisoners.

The PHC chief justice exhorted the district and sessions judges to make surprise visits in addition to regular jail visits to alleviate the sufferings of inmates.

She expressed her resolve to purge judiciary of corrupt elements by demonstrating zero tolerance for illicit practices. She underscored the need for strictly observing the dress code as well as court timings.

OATH: PHC Chief Justice Musarrat Hilali said that after merger of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the population of the province drastically increased and it was need of the hour to increase the sanctioned strength of PHC judges to 30 from the existing 20.

Addressing the oath taking ceremony of the newly-elected cabinet of PHC Bar Association, she said that the population of the province was a little less than that of Sindh, but the sanctioned strength of judges in Sindh High Court was 40 as compared to 20 of PHC.

She said that she had recommended to federal government to increase the strength of PHC judges and hoped that in the forthcoming budget five or six new posts would be sanctioned.

The PHC chief justice administered oath to the newly-elected cabinet members including PHCBA president Tariq Afridi, vice president Sawar Khan, general secretary Lajbar Khan Khalil and others.

Tariq Afridi, in his welcome address, said that bar and bench were inseparable bodies of judicial system and the system would collapse without their coordination.

He assured the chief justice all out support of the association for achieving the objective of providing expeditious and cheap justice to people.

Chief Justice Musarrat Hilali said that she still cherished the memories of the time she had spent in the bar as its member as well as office-bearer. She added that unfortunately several of the illustrious names of the high court bar expired and were no longer present among them.

She also voiced concern over problems in prisons across the country, stating that jail reforms were need of the hour. She said that internal punishments inflicted by administrators in prisons were even harsher than the one awarded by courts.

She said that although there were certain punishments provided in the rules for maintaining discipline and tranquillity in prisons yet that did not mean to inflict injures on inmates.

The PHC chief justice said that the number of under-trial prisoners in jails across the province was almost eight per cent of the total prisons. She said that special benches constituted for hearing criminal cases had shown noteworthy achievements.

About the car parking issue near the high court, she said that they had been facing shortage of funds for construction of parking lot and she would take up the matter with the government.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2023