PESHAWAR - Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Yahya Afridi said on Tuesday that there would be no danger of any unrest in the society if swift and timely justice was provided to the people.

Speaking at the launch of the Secretariat of District Judiciary (SDJ) here at PHC building, he said that it was high time that the district judiciary was provided an opportunity to determine its own career path and welfare. “All this is a must to ensure inexpensive and expeditious justice for all,” he said.

The ceremony was attended by judges of the high court,   representatives of Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), the British High Commission, the UNDP, Switzerland embassy, German Development Bank and others.

The secretariat aims at strengthening the administrative capacity of the district judiciary for quick and inexpensive justice service at the grassroots level. The World Bank through the Governance and Policy Project, Planning and Development Department supported in the establishment of the secretariat.

Justice Afridi said that the PHC appreciated the support of the MDTF to help establish the secretariat. He said that the PHC was developing strategies according to its priorities and the support of donors would be welcomed in reforming the judicial sector.

The PHC chief justice said that reforms had been introduced to evolve a mechanism to deal with civil and criminal cases at the district level. “We want to bring changes that should be spread from bottom to top,” he said.

Justice Afridi said that a three-day conference would be held in February on introducing changes in criminal procedure code (CPC) which would be attended by all stakeholders including the police and prosecution.

While talking about the concept of the CPC changes, he said this entire process took one-year in which feedback was taken from judicial officers, businessmen and people from all sectors.

“We have to raise the capacity of district judiciary to deliver justice,” he said.

Justice Afridi said that eight far-flung districts had been selected to provide basic facilities to the general public as presently development was restricted to three districts only. He suggested that donors prepared for the training of judicial officers with coordination of the judicial academy.

On the occasion, he also distributed appreciation certificates among officers of the governance and policy project.