PHC CJ inaugurates secretariat for district judiciary

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Yahya Afridi on Wednesday inaugurated a secretariat for district judiciary at the first judicial officers' conference in the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Judges from all the cadres including high court, district and sessions judges, additional district and sessions judges, senior civil judges and civil judges/judicial magistrates participated in the conference and annual get-together of judicial officers at the Nishtar Hall.

In his speech, Chief Justice Yahya Afridi said that he had taken all the judges of the high court on board before the decision to establish the secretariat. "Each and every judicial officer of the high court wanted the secretariat and agreed on this initiative," he said.

"Now, it would rely on the shoulders of the members of the district judiciary to ensure that the secretariat comes up to the aspirations of the district judiciary," the chief justice said. "Our problem was resources. The World Bank is helping the high court in this project and they are providing resources for 18 months. They will guide and train us to enable our own people to run the secretariat," he pointed out. However, the chief justice made it clear that the high court wanted experts from private sector to run the secretariat independently.

About justice delivery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the year 2017, he said: "I am proud of each and every judicial officer in delivery of justice even in far-flung areas of the province that are hardly accessible."

He said one can say that the justice delivery system was not up to the mark, but they were trying to improve it. In his inaugural speech, senior PHC judge Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth said that the reunion of all judicial officers of the province was unique in judicial history of the province.

He said after taking oath of his office the chief justice's vision was to take positive steps for delivery of justice at grassroots level and establishment of a secretariat of district judiciary was the first step towards this goal. He opined that independence of judiciary cannot be obtained, achieved or sustained without provisions of better facilities. He said that a judge would be able to deliver justice if he is stable and has no financial and stress issues.

The chief justice distributed the best judges of the year awards among the judicial officers. The awards included cash and certificates. Those rewarded included Additional Sessions Judge (ADJ) Rashidullah Kundi, ADJ Arbab Suhail Hameed, ADJ Kaleem Arshad Khan, ADJ Ms Nadia Syed, Senior Civil Judge Wajid Ali, Senior Civil Judge Faisal Anjum, Civil Judge Asghar Ali, Civil Judge Gulzarullah, Civil Judge Seemab Waheed Saddiqui and Civil Judge Ikramullah.