Surprise inspection: District judge nabs ‘unofficial’ worker at Aiwan-i-Adl

Factory worker ‘moonlights’ as assistant to record keeper.


Express July 13, 2011

LAHORE:


District and Sessions Judge (D&SJ) Mujhaid Mustaqeem on Wednesday had a man working for the court of Civil Judge Syed Zaigham Abbas arrested and also sought a report regarding the matter from Abbas within two days.


D&SJ Mustaqeem paid a surprise visit to Aiwan-i-Adl to check the performance of judicial officers and court staff.

When the judge visited the court of Civil Judge Abbas he found Muhammad Aslam working as a record keeper and the civil judge absent from court.

The judge asked Aslam to identify himself and discovered that he was not an employee of the court but was working part time as an assistant to the record keeper. The judge ordered that Aslam be arrested.

However, he later released him on compassionate grounds after recording his statement. Muhammad Aslam, 65, said that he had been hired by the record keeper and the civil judge was aware of his employment.

He said that he was a retired court employee and had been helping the record keeper with his work after 1 pm.

“I also work in a factory after court time to support my family,” he told The Express Tribune.

D&SJ Mustaqeem told The Express Tribune that he was inspecting courts as per directions of the Lahore High Court.

He said Aslam was arrested from the court of Abbas. “No outsider can be allowed to handle court documents,” he added.

“The civil judge has been asked to submit a report regarding the apparent misconduct”, he said.

The judge said stern action would be taken against any judicial officer or court staff if such an incident happened again.

However, court staffers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, admitted that Aslam was not the only unofficial worker in the courts. They said the quantity of work forced the court staff to hire low wage helpers. They blamed the shortage of court staff for the irregular arrangements.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2011.

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