Chief Court’s premises: G-B govt finally approves construction of new courthouse

Complex will be inaugurated on Saturday in Jutial

GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan government Monday approved Rs480 million to build a new complex for the chief court of the region.

“The complex will be constructed in Jutial area,” said Sajjadul Haq, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Monday. He added that approval for the project had been granted by G-B Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman.

The inauguration ceremony for the new project is scheduled to be held on Saturday, October 15.

The chief court, which is equivalent to a high court in the rest of the country, currently operates in a building in Konodas area. A lawyer who practices in the court said that the existing building is old and does not have enough space to meet all the requirements of the staff, judges and lawyers.

Last year, the G-B government had allocated 50 Kanals of land to build the new building for the court. However, the allocated land was near an artificial forest and threatened the existence of 5,000 trees.

The project was finally shelved after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also objected to the plan.



While the exact location has not been disclosed, Jutial is a relatively densely populated area of Gilgit located on one bank of the Gilgit River. There are several important institutions located in the district including the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Gilgit.

Backlog of cases

According to a statement issued by the Chief Court, courts in the region have disposed of 6,332 cases in the past eight months.

The Chief Court decided 442 of these cases, while the districts and session courts decided 1,794 cases. The civil courts decided 3,796 cases while the Anti-Terrorism Court disposed
of 115 cases.

Similarly, the banking court decided 93 cases during this period.

The court said that around 1,301 cases are currently pending in the Chief Court, while 2,178 cases are registered in the district and session courts and 3,777 cases are under process in the civil courts.

Landslide kills three in Diamer

At least three people were killed in Buner village of Diamer district when they got caught in a landslide.

According to local journalist Mujeebur Rehman, police and other rescue officials had reached the spot to recover the bodies. The deceased belonged to Diamer and were identified as Zubair, Asadullah and Azadullah.

One killed in Skardu

An 18-year-old boy died after he fell into a water channel supplying water to the Kachura powerhouse.

According to police, the power station had to be shut down and power supply had to be temporarily suspended so that rescue workers could retrieve the body.

The incident triggered protests in the area with locals criticising authorities for not covering the channel properly that led to the death of a young boy.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2016.