PESHAWAR: The country’s first mobile court began its operations on Tuesday by going to the Hayatabad Township here, where it disposed of around 30 criminal and civil cases.

The custom-built bus named ‘Mobile Court’ was parked on the premises of the Peshawar Development Authority around 15 kilometres from the Judicial Complex housing regular courts, and was focus of attraction for all visitors.

Civil judge-cum-judicial magistrate Fazal Wadud designated as judge mobile court heard the cases in the specially-designed courtroom of the court inaugurated by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan on July 27, and issued several orders on the spot.

All suspects arrested by Hayatabad police station and nearby other stations were produced before the court instead of taking them to the court of the magistrate and the court decided most of the cases.

Several Afghan refugees, who did not possess the Proof of Registration (POR) Card, were produced before the court and were sent to prison with the direction for their deportation within a week.

They were charged under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.

Director general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy Hayat Ali Shah and Peshawar district and sessions judge Shehbar Khan supervised the operations of the mobile court.

The important thing about the mobile court, which differentiates it from regular courts, is that its primary focus is on alternate dispute resolution (ADR), especially in civil cases.

The mobile court became operational due to the financial and technical support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The mobile court vehicle was prepared at the cost of Rs15 million.

Hayat Ali Shah and Shehbar Khan told reporters that so far, the judicial academy had trained eight judges and 18 lawyers, who had been functioning as professional mediators.

They said by the end of 2013, the academy would train 48 judges and 72 mediators.

Mr Hayat said the theme behind the project was that access to justice was basic right of citizens and that its objective was to resolve disputes on the people’s doorsteps instead of courts in civil cases preferably through ADR.

He said in cases of minor nature, especially about orders for juvenile offenders, would be issued on the spot and that instead of sending juveniles to prison, freeing them on probation would be preferred.

Mr Shehbar said the visit of the mobile court to Hayatabad had two objectives, one to hear around 30 cases pertaining to the area and second to create awareness among the people of the functioning of the court.

He said the high court was planning to set up such like courts in each of the districts in the province.

About legislation related to the mobile courts, Mr Hayat said the high court had prepared drafts of two proposed laws and sent it to the provincial government for legislation which has still been awaited.

When the mobile court decided the first case pertaining to a dispute between two property dealers over amount of Rs600,000 as monetary commission over selling a piece of land, the relevant lawyers and the two parties became the most sought-after persons for the electronic media.

Farhad Ali Khalil, lawyer for the mediator, said the two parties were engaged in litigation for over a year and the issue was amicably resolved through ADR as they agreed to receive Rs300,000 each.

Litigants, lawyers and other visitors complained that the cooling system of the mobile court failed to cope with the scorching heat and it was almost impossible for them to stay inside it for a long time.

District public prosecutor Mohammad Akram and public prosecutor Qaisar Shah represented the government in the cases.

Several juvenile offenders were also produced in different cases, including foreign act, arms ordinance and vagrancy.

One juvenile, Kamran Khan, was arrested for carrying a pistol and was nominally fiend by the court.

Similarly, some people arrested under Section 109 of Code of Criminal Procedure for sauntering aimlessly were freed after they produced personal surety bonds.

All three claimed that they were labourers waiting for clients but were picked up by police without reason.

President of Peshawar District Bar Association Maulana Shamsul Haq and former president Fida Gul along with several other lawyers attended the proceedings and expressed the hope that with passage of time, the mobile court would extend its functions to other parts of the province.