Justice delivery: ‘Efficiency can enhance public trust in courts’

'When it comes to enforcement of fundamental rights even our civil courts are mandated to get those rights enforced.'

ISLAMABAD:

Supreme Court judge Asif Saeed Khan Khosa has said that public trust in district courts could only be restored if district and sessions judges administer justice to litigants effectively and judiciously.

He said this at a certificate distribution ceremony for the newly-promoted district and sessions judges after they completed a one-week training course on “role of district and sessions judges being non-financial managers in financial management, constitutional jurisdiction of courts and other new laws”, here at the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA).

Regarding financial management, he said, “As the head of the district judiciary, a sessions judge is also the manager and administrator of the judiciary and he has to manage the finances as well.

About the constitutional jurisdiction of the district courts, he said, “The constitution is very clear and it has not provided the constitutional role to the district judiciary but there are some statutes which have mandated them to play that role in certain domains such a habeas corpus and enforcement of fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution.

“When it comes to the enforcement of fundamental rights even our civil courts are mandated to get those rights enforced. Enforce and the superior courts will support you.”

A two-member delegation from Judicial Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland — Sheriff Welch and Sheriff Duf — along with British High Commission Liaison Prosecutor Mark Carroll also attended the ceremony and shared their experience and wisdom with the faculty and training participants.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2014.