ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khosa Wednesday expressed his disappointment over the continued ruckus in the National Assembly by the treasury and opposition members on the budget speech.
He also expressed his reservations over the deteriorating situation of economy in the country as well as performance of cricket team in World Cup.
Addressing an orientation session on expeditious justice initiative for judges of additional Model Criminal Trial Courts here at Federal Judicial Academy, the chief justice said, “I feel depressed when I see members don’t let Prime Minister Imran Khan and Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif speak in the parliament.”
Referring to the economic situation, chief justice said, “Some say it is in ICU, others claim that it has come out of it. Irrespective of the fact who is responsible for it, we aren’t hearing good news from there as well.”
“I change the channel to avoid it but again felt disappointed by watching the World Cup,” said the chief justice.
The chief justice claimed that judiciary was the only sector which was performing as per expectations of the people. “It’s the priority of judiciary to provide timely justice. The model courts have given decisions of 5,800 cases in 45 days.”
Chief justice said the judiciary was looking into the issue of delay in provision of justice and false testimonies, adding that the Pakistani Supreme Court was one of a kind which initiated online proceedings.
He further said that children and gender-based violence courts would be established in each district of the country.
The chief justice said that in every district of the country there will have gender-based courts and the atmosphere of these courts will be different from other courts.
He said there will be at least one such court in each district to facilitate women, where they could go and tell their problems.
He said there would be around 1016 gender-based violence courts across Pakistan. Speaking about the children courts, Chief Justice Khosa said that they will not look like courts but homes, to make children feel comfortable so they could share their problems.
Discussing performance of the model courts, the chief justice said 5800 trials were decided through model courts in 48 working days.
He said basic objective behind establishing model courts was to provide inexpensive and expeditious justice to the masses.
He announced to add one more judge to every district and within a few months there will model courts in the entire country.
There will be no justice unless there will be a truthful evidence, he added. He said any witness, who makes a false testimony will be rejected.
CJP Khosa said the model courts were first established in four districts, and further expanded to seven districts. He said six districts had zero pendency of murder and narcotics cases, while 10 districts will be added next month.
The CJP said, “We will expand this to other offences.”
The chief justice said that meeting of the National Judicial Policy Making Committee was scheduled on Monday and it was on agenda to now move to civil side. He said civil, family, rent and magistrate model courts were being launched simultaneously.
CJP Khosa said the Supreme Court of Pakistan was the first apex court in the entire world, which had started hearing cases online.
He said a state of the art research center would be established at the Supreme Court, where five to six search engines would be installed to facilitate legal fraternity and researchers.
Justice Khosa said it was the constitutional responsibility of the judiciary to provide inexpensive justice.
“All possibilities of adjournment have to be eliminated,” he said. The top judge also urged society to look after the spouses and children of prisoners.
“In criminal cases, people are languishing in jails for years and nobody cares about their spouses and children,” he said.
“Their families have not committed any offence but they unfortunately have to suffer more than them,” he lamented. “Poverty sometimes drives them to commit crime,” he added.