Administrative issues: No progress on consumer courts in six districts
Court officials claim new courts can’t be set up until their tenure is extended
Court officials claim new courts can’t be set up until their tenure is extended. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
No progress has been made on the establishment of consumer courts and associated councils in six districts as the contracts of 35 officials at 11 existing consumer courts, including the Punjab Consumer Protection Council (PCPC) and the District Consumer Protection Councils (DCPC), have not been extended.
The 35 officials are 11 registrars at 11 consumer courts; 11 assistant directors (legal) at the DCPC; a deputy director (legal), four assistant directors (legal, admin, budget and chemical) and a superintendent (budget) at the PCPC; and seven private secretaries to district and sessions judges of the consumer courts.
In this year’s budget, the government had allocated more than Rs68 million for setting up six consumer courts and more than Rs33 million for as many councils in Mianwali, Bhakkar, Mandi Bahauddin, Layyah, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan.
One of the officials said the staff had been working on establishing new courts. “The process stopped after the Industries Department did not extend our tenure,” said the official who did not want to be named. “How can we work on setting up new courts when the government has not extended our tenure?”
He said the officials had filed a petition before Lahore High Court requesting the court to order the department to regularise their services. He said the court had directed the department not to issue any “adverse orders” against them until the petition was disposed of.
He said the government had also stopped funds for the existing courts. He said the consumer court in Bahawalpur had been operating at a rented building. He said a new court building had now been constructed but the landlord of the existing building was not letting the staff shift the equipment until they cleared the pending rent for three months.
Livestock and Industries Secretary Naseem Sadiq denied progress on the new courts was held back owing to non-extension of the 35 officials’ tenures. “Work is going on. The courts will become functional in a few months,” he told The Express Tribune. He said the department had not extended the tenures of the 35 officials because the LHC was hearing the case. He said the government had not stopped funds for any of the courts.
Sadiq said he was not happy with the performance of the courts. “A case that should be disposed of in a week is sometimes decided after several years.” He said he wanted to introduce “model” courts to decide the cases early.
Sadiq said that the process of setting up consumer courts was not linked to the issue of extending the tenure of the officials. He said that the powers of starting the courts would be shifted to other officials. He said that he would visit three districts in the coming weeks to start work on the courts.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2015.
No progress has been made on the establishment of consumer courts and associated councils in six districts as the contracts of 35 officials at 11 existing consumer courts, including the Punjab Consumer Protection Council (PCPC) and the District Consumer Protection Councils (DCPC), have not been extended.
The 35 officials are 11 registrars at 11 consumer courts; 11 assistant directors (legal) at the DCPC; a deputy director (legal), four assistant directors (legal, admin, budget and chemical) and a superintendent (budget) at the PCPC; and seven private secretaries to district and sessions judges of the consumer courts.
In this year’s budget, the government had allocated more than Rs68 million for setting up six consumer courts and more than Rs33 million for as many councils in Mianwali, Bhakkar, Mandi Bahauddin, Layyah, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan.
One of the officials said the staff had been working on establishing new courts. “The process stopped after the Industries Department did not extend our tenure,” said the official who did not want to be named. “How can we work on setting up new courts when the government has not extended our tenure?”
He said the officials had filed a petition before Lahore High Court requesting the court to order the department to regularise their services. He said the court had directed the department not to issue any “adverse orders” against them until the petition was disposed of.
He said the government had also stopped funds for the existing courts. He said the consumer court in Bahawalpur had been operating at a rented building. He said a new court building had now been constructed but the landlord of the existing building was not letting the staff shift the equipment until they cleared the pending rent for three months.
Livestock and Industries Secretary Naseem Sadiq denied progress on the new courts was held back owing to non-extension of the 35 officials’ tenures. “Work is going on. The courts will become functional in a few months,” he told The Express Tribune. He said the department had not extended the tenures of the 35 officials because the LHC was hearing the case. He said the government had not stopped funds for any of the courts.
Sadiq said he was not happy with the performance of the courts. “A case that should be disposed of in a week is sometimes decided after several years.” He said he wanted to introduce “model” courts to decide the cases early.
Sadiq said that the process of setting up consumer courts was not linked to the issue of extending the tenure of the officials. He said that the powers of starting the courts would be shifted to other officials. He said that he would visit three districts in the coming weeks to start work on the courts.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2015.