Regular courts of tribal districts to start working within one week

PESHAWAR: The first regular courts in the erstwhile Fata after abolition of the colonial British-era Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) of 1901 are expected to start working within a week as distribution of cases among the judges has been started.

“All cases related to the tribal districts have been collected in the District Judiciary Secretariat of the Peshawar High Court. Distribution of cases has also been started among the courts established for the tribal districts,” an official told The News.

The official said that the 28 judicial officers posted to the tribal districts have taken their charge and would start hearing the cases after proper arrangements are made in the makeshift courts within a few days.

Before hearing the cases, the official said that the judicial officers would attend special training at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy to make them conversant with the peculiar customs and “riwaj” of these districts and decide cases as per “riwaj” during the transition period.

On March 2, Peshawar High Court conducted an orientation session for the judicial officers posted to the newly merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth urged the judges to proceed according to law without any pressure and prejudice and follow discipline to lead their staff by example and deal decently with the litigant public.

The chief justice said the selection of judicial officers for this assignment has been carried out painstakingly and extra caution was taken to ensure the best of the best are selected for this challenging assignment.

About the preparation carried out by PHC Registrar Khawaja Wajihud Din and the secretariat of district judiciary, he said that all measures have been taken

to facilitate the judicial officers posted to the tribal districts.

Registrar PHC Khawaja Wajihud Din said that three pronged strategy has been devised as immediate intervention by ensuring makeshift arrangements for courts in the adjoining districts.

The PHC, on February 25, issued two notifications through the Registrar about promotion and posting of the 28 judicial officers in the recently merged districts.

The judges posted to the merged districts include seven district and sessions judges, 14 additional district and sessions judges and seven senior civil judges.

The temporary place of sitting of the judges to run the courts for the merged districts include Khyber at Federal Judicial Complex, Hayatabad, Bajaur at Timergara, Lower Dir, Kurram at Thall in Hangu district, South Waziristan at Tank, Orakzai at Hangu, Mohmand at Shabqadar and Charsadda and North Waziristan at Bannu.

As per the policy statement, the Registrar PHC said the officers shall have the place of sitting in the adjoining districts till the time the provincial government provides requisite facilities in the merged districts.

The makeshift arrangements, he said, shall be for a maximum period of five to six months and hopefully there would be swift transition to the newly merged districts.

In the first leg, for each newly merged district, there is one district & sessions judge, two additional district & sessions judges and one senior civil judge.

In due course, he added, the civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates shall be transferred to each district.

He said that a requisition has also been sent to the Provincial Public Service Commission, KP for recruitment of 24 civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates on urgent basis for the merged districts.

The Registrar stated that 907 posts of the support staff have been created for the merged districts. “The process of recruitment shall start immediately.

As per rules, the recruitment of the support staff shall be carried out strictly on merit and from amongst the bona fide domiciled residents of the newly merged districts,” he added.

The Peshawar High Court, he said, has also shared with the provincial government the budget estimates for the district judiciary of these districts and it is hoped that necessary fiscal support shall be provided at the earliest.

On the other hand, the PHC benches have stopped hearing of the cases related to the tribal districts with the observation that regular courts would start hearing of the cases within a week.