Annual Report 2010 Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan Published By Secretariat Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan Supreme Court Building Constitution Avenue Islamabad Annual Report, LJCP Table of Contents 1. Foreword 1 2. Introduction 3 3. Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan 5 4. Chairman & Member’s Introduction 10 5. National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee 28 6. Access to Justice Development Fund 34 7. Commission’s Secretariat 36 8. Activities of LJCP 37 9. Activities of NJPMC 41 10. Activities of AJDF 79 11. Public Awareness Program 91 12. List of Reports 125 13. List of officers of LJCP 131 14. Commissions’ Finances 132 15. Addresses of other Law Commission 133 2 Annual Report, LJCP Foreword I am pleased to present Annual Report of the Commission for the year 2010, a significant year for the Commission and as well as for the judicial system of Pakistan. Our justice system is grappling with many issues having tremendous impact on the performance of justice sector institutions. The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan ensures quick and inexpensive justice to all segments of society without any discrimination and no one can deny the fact that this constitutional commitment cannot be fulfilled unless the perennial and decade old issues hindering the process of dispensation of justice are addressed. The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan is mandated to suggest law reforms to make our legal system more responsive to such concerns and formulate efficient and workable policies for strengthening the system of administration of justice. Suggesting law reforms to foster innovations for the benefit of litigants is a critical task and I feel pride that the Commission is performing this fascinating and challenging job. Furthermore, the Secretariat is providing secretarial assistance to the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee to provide a path for reforming the administration of justice in the country in order to realize the goal of ensuring expeditious and inexpensive justice for all by mobilizing the existing resources. For this purpose a software has been developed to monitor the progress of all criminal and civil cases to evaluate the performance of different key players of the justice sector i.e. Courts, Police, Prosecution and Jail authorities. This software programme will provide information regarding progress of each civil or criminal case at just one click enabling the MIT office to monitor the case flow management in each Court of the district judiciary. I hope that effective implementation of this software will prove to be a milestone in the judicial history of Pakistan. 3 Annual Report, LJCP I commend the efforts of the Secretariat of the Commission as it performed multidimensional activities during the year under reference suggesting law reforms, effective implementation of National Judicial Policy, management of Access to Justice Development Fund and by raising awareness about existing laws through public awareness schemes. I hope that they will continue to do more with the same zeal and enthusiasm. (Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary) Chairman Islamabad, the 24th September, 2011 4 Annual Report, LJCP Introduction The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan is a statutory institution established for keeping under review, on systematic basis, the statutes and other laws of the country, with a view to make recommendations to the Federal Government and Provincial Governments for improvement, modernization and reform thereof. The Commission further makes recommendations to Government for reforms in the system of administration of justice and suggests measures for inexpensive and expeditious dispensation of justice. The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan has so far approved 120 Reports on law reform and submitted the same to the Government for implementation. The Commission Secretariat also operates a legal awareness scheme where under Urdu write ups on legal issue / problems of public interest are published for public awareness. The write ups prepared so far have been compiled and published in 6 volumes under the title “Qanoon Fahmi”. The Government of Pakistan has established a statutory endowment “Access to Justice Development Fund (AJDF)” with a view to address the issue of chronic budgetary constraints facing the judicial and legal sectors in Pakistan. AJDF is a demand‐driven expenditure characterized by a unique funding mechanism to sustain and deepen reforms in the justice sector and strengthen the professional functionality of the courts and its service delivery component and legal empowerment. The AJDF is located with the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP), which provides secretarial support to AJDF. LJCP has constituted a Governing Body with a mandate to manage and administer the Fund. The GB is headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The Secretariat of Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan also provides secretarial assistance to NJPMC to cope with its mandate set forth in the Ordinance. The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee in its various meetings in 2010 issued directions on many important issues, such as the issue of under trial prisoners and jails reforms, disposal of cases through 5 Annual Report, LJCP ADR, separation of judiciary from the executive, eradication of corruption from the judiciary, segregation of child prisoners from adult prisoners, recording of evidence through Commission, implementation of Small Claims and Minor Offences Courts Ordinance 2002, the issue of suckling babies in jails, effective enforcement of parole and probation laws, frustration of execution petitions, proceedings through miscellaneous applications etc. During the year, the Secretariat, under the auspices of National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee, organized a three days Conference to evolve strategies for effective implementation of National Judicial Policy. The Commission welcomes interaction with research institutions, professional bodies, jurists, scholars, researchers and citizens on the issues of legal and judicial reform. Views, comments and suggestions for reform of law, improvement in administration of justice, standard of legal education and protection of human rights can be forwarded to the Secretariat. Habib‐ur‐Rahman Shaikh Secretary Islamabad, the 24th September, 2011 6 Annual Report, LJCP 1. Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan is a Federal Government institution, established under an Ordinance (XIV) of 1979. The Commission is headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan and comprises 12 other members including the Chief Justices of the superior courts, Attorney General for Pakistan, Secretary, Ministry of Law, Justice & Human Rights and Chairperson, National Commission on the Status of Women and others. Each province is represented by one member. The non‐ex‐officio members of the Commission are appointed for a period of 3 years. They are appointed by the Government on the recommendation of the Chairman of the Commission. The Chairman can also appoint suitable person(s) as a member (s) for a specified period to perform specified functions. The functions of the Commission are listed in Section 6 of the Ordinance. Such functions include: • Carrying out a regular and systematic review of the statutes and other laws of land, with a view to improving/ modernizing laws for bringing them in accord with the changing needs of the society • Arranging the codification and unification of laws. so as to eliminate multiplicity of laws on the same subjects; • Removing inconsistencies between Federal and Provincial laws; • Simplifying laws for easy comprehension and suggesting measures to make the society law‐conscious; • Introducing reforms in the administration of justice; adopting simple and effective procedure for the administration of laws to ensure substantial, inexpensive and speedy justice; • Recommending improvements in the quality/standard of legal education; 7 Annual Report, LJCP • Taking measures for developing human resources for efficient court administration and management of case flow; co‐ordination between the judiciary and executive authorities of the Federal Government and provincial governments on administrative, financial and other related matters; • Preparing and operating schemes for access to justice, legal aid and protection of human rights; • Managing the Access to Justice Development Fund; • The Federal Government or any provincial government may seek the opinion and advice of the Commission on any matter relevant to its functions. Besides, the Commission is further mandated to take measures for:‐ • Developing and augmenting human resources for efficient court system and case management. • Co‐ordination of judiciary and executive. • Preparing schemes for access to justice, legal aid and protection of human rights. • Improving standards of legal education. 1.1 Working of the Commission and Its Secretariat • Where the Commission proposes to examine any particular statute or law, the Chairman shall direct the Secretariat to do so and to submit a report for the consideration of the Commission. • The Chairman may publish any of the pending working/theme paper for eliciting public advice/comments on the subject. 8 Annual Report, LJCP • The Chairman may obtain the advice of any person possessing special knowledge of the law under examination on payment of such fee as he may deem proper. • The Chairman may require any person residing in Pakistan and possessing special knowledge of the matter under consideration