Govt to extend legal aid to the needy

The Punjab government is to establish the Punjab Public Defender Service (PPDS) to provide free legal services to people facing criminal cases.

This was announced at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Cabinet on Legislative Business (SCCLB) held at the Civil Secretariat in the provincial capital on Tuesday.

The meeting was presided over by the Provincial Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Environment Protection and Cooperatives, Muhammad Basharat Raja.

Punjab Law Minister Khurram Shehzad Virk, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Akhtar Javed and other senior officials attended the meeting which reviewed the draft of the Punjab Public Defender Service Bill.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Cabinet on Legislative Business, Muhammad Basharat Raja, said that Article 37D of the Constitution guaranteed every citizen the right to defend themselves in any court of law.

He said if a citizen was facing a criminal case and was unable to pay the lawyers’ fee, they would request the relevant court or tribunal to provide them the legal aid.

The learned judge, he said, then would order the PPDS to provide an advocate. A citizen in jail would also be able to hire a free defender through the superintendent of the prison, he added.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Akhtar Javed highlighted that the Chief Public Defender and the Additional Chief Public Defender would be nominated by the chief minister under the law. A public defender would also be appointed at the district level, while the minister of parliamentary affairs suggested that the scope of this service should be extended to the tehsil level, and necessary changes should be made in the bill in this regard.

Constitutional and legal expert Muhammad Azhar Siddique told The Express Tribune that originally the Punjab Public Defender Service Act 2007 was introduced during the then provincial government which was later repealed through the Punjab Public Defender Service Act 2007 (Repeal) Bill 2011, which was passed by the then provincial assembly of Punjab on March 8, 2012, and sent to the then governor for his assent.

However, the then governor had returned the Bill for reconsideration by the assembly. The provincial assembly, after reconsideration, again passed the bill on June 7, 2012 and the bill was again sent to the governor for his assent on June 9, 2012. Since the governor had not assented to the bill within the stipulated period of 10 days, the same was deemed to have been assented to in terms of Clause (3) of Article 116 of the Constitution and was published as an act of the provincial assembly of Punjab. Azhar said the provision of legal aid was the basic right of every citizen. Everywhere in the world, governments were providing similar services to their citizens, he said. “Although there is nothing new in the law, it is necessary for the citizens in need to be provided with legal support,” said the legal expert.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2022.