PHC prepares draft rules for early disposal of criminal cases

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) in consultation with the provincial government has prepared draft rules called the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Criminal Procedure (Case Management) Rules, 2017 for effective management and disposal of the criminal cases within days.

“The PHC would hand over the final draft of the Criminal Procedure (Case Management) Rules after five or six months to the provincial government for making it a law,” Ziaur Rehman, senior director administration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy, said this at a media briefing held at Judicial Academy on Tuesday.

He said the rules were being introduced for expeditious justice system as per the expectations of the people. With the introduction of the rules, the courts would able to dispose of criminal cases within days, not in months and years.

The senior director said the PHC had given the task for preparing the draft rules to the KP Judicial Academy and the proposed draft was ready for further consultation and recommendations from the quarters concerned.

In this connection, he said, one day national seminar was held at the academy Tuesday for discussion on the proposed draft and further recommendations.

He said PHC Chief Justice, Yahya Afridi, high court judge Justice Qalandar Ali Khan, senior judges of district judiciary, representatives of Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh and federal judicial academies, senior lawyers, deputy attorney generals and additional advocate generals of the province, Director General KP Judicial Academy Dr Khurshid Iqbal, Dean Faculty Syed Anees Badshah Bukhari and others participated in the seminar.

Ziaur Rehman said several recommendations were made by the participants at the seminar.

About the proposed draft, he said, after recommendations and getting response from the quarters concerned including Home and Law departments of the province, it would be sent to PHC’s Rule Making Committee. Then the final draft would be sent to the provincial government for making it a law.

Under the proposed draft, whose copy is available with The News, the duty of the court will be to actively manage the case before starting the trial including identification of the real issues, early identification of the needs of witnesses, achieving certainty as to what must be done, by whom, and when, in particular by the early setting of the timetable for the progress of the case.

It said the court would also be duty bound for monitoring the progress of the case and compliance with directions, ensuring that evidence, whether disputed or not, is presented in the shortest and clearest way, discouraging delay, dealing with many aspects of the case and avoiding unnecessary hearings.