Prompt justice: In a first, district appellate courts set up

Separate courts specified for different kinds of appeals

LAHORE: In the first-ever initiative of its kind to dispense prompt justice, district courts have established appellate courts to deal with five specific types of cases at the district level. Two more courts have been set up to deal with cases related to the state.

A district and sessions judge, Nazir Ahmed Gajana, took the step of setting up the appellate courts, where 26 judges will hear appeals against court orders on cases like civil matters, family matters, civil revision, criminal appeals and rent-related matters, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Previously, sessions judges had to deal with several types of cases. Their job was to mark the appeals filed against court orders to additional district and sessions judges. Now separate courts have been specified for different kinds of appeals against court orders.



At the appellate courts, 16 judges will hear appeals against the orders of civil matters while three judges will hear appeals against orders of family matters. Three judges will hear civil revisions, three will hear criminal appeals and one judge will hear appeals against orders on matters related to rents.

State matters

In the two courts setup to deal with appeals on state matters, cases will be heard by Class-I judge Muhammad Amin Shahzad. He will hear cases of railways, city district governments, excise and taxation and other related issued. Another class-I judge Nazar Abbas Gondal will hear cases of other government departments.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Tajammul Hussain, the public information officer of district and sessions court, said this was the first such step taken to specify judges. “The move will prove fruitful in dispensation of justice to the public,” he believed, adding the burden on courts would decrease and cases would be decided on time. Hussain said there were five courts where the petitions filed under sections 22-A (the powers of justice of peace) 22-B (duties of justice of peace) of Code of Criminal Procedure were being dealt with.

However, Gajana has established two more courts of such matters, taking the number of these courts to seven.

The lawyers’ community has also welcomed this decision, believing it might solve the problems of the litigants. Advocate Ghulam Mujtaba said the step should have been taken earlier but even then it was good one.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2016.