LDA issues new SOPs for 12,000 legal cases

LAHORE: To deal with more than 12,000 pending cases, Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has circulated new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for its Directorate of Law under which the authority will deal every case as per its priority.

As per the new SOPs, all cases will be placed in three categories (A, B & C). ‘A’ category means a case wherein direct interest of LDA is involved, including the matter of exemption/adjustment, commercialisation, construction, encroachment, demolition, damages, and all the cases, the categorisation committee deem appropriate to be categorised as ‘A’ category. ‘B’ category means the case wherein no direct interest of LDA is involved. The categorisation committee shall decide matter of interest and ‘C’ category shall mean the legal heirs cases and the cases wherein LDA is just a Pro Forma defendant.

SOP of Law Directorate in general stated that Director Law deputed by the Director General LDA shall govern the affairs of Directorate of Law and a reasonable number of Deputy Director Law and Assistant Director Law shall be deputed under Director Law to look after the cases pending in different courts. It added that a team of Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Advisers/Assistant Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Advisers/Additional Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Advisers, as per hierarchy of the courts, shall be deputed under Director Law, to contest the cases in courts assigned to them.

The pending cases in different courts shall be categorised as per sensitivity and interest of LDA involved in each case and Director Law shall assign the courts and cases to Deputy Director Law, Assistant Director Law and Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Advisers keeping in view the sensitivity and interest of LDA involved in each case.

If any comments/reports provided by the client directorate based on any wrong, incomplete or misleading information, the whole responsibility shall lie with referring directorate and in no case the directorate of law shall be held responsible.

It stated that adverse orders of the courts shall be assailed within a period of limitation prescribed by the relevant law on the next forum. In case of delay in assailing the adverse orders, the Director Law shall initiate a probe and shall take the action against the responsible.

File covers of different colours shall be used for case files as red for ‘A’ category cases, blue for ‘B’ category cases and green for ‘C’ category cases. Working of all the three Directorates of Law depends on each other so the Additional Director General (UP) shall take steps towards developing better coordination between all the three directorates to run the affairs smoothly.

For civil courts, SOPs stated that Director Law, Civil Court will assign the courts to Assistant Director Law to manage the affairs of the court in office, to Additional Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser to contest the case in field and to Deputy Director Law to supervise the both. Director Law will also depute Record Keeper to keep the record of court in office, a court clerk to keep the record in court and suit clerk for the purpose of CTCs. Cases are initiated in civil court by filing of plaint and issuance of process i.e notices/summons etc. Notices/summons so issued will be received in the office of Director Law who will mark the case to Assistant Director Law who will complete the file through his court clerk within a week.

On completion of file, the Assistant Director Law will peruse the contents of the plaint and will mark the category of the case. In case he is not sure about the category, he will mark the file to category committee.

The committee will determine the category and ascertain the relevant client directorate. After that the file will be marked to Assistant Director Law for further process. Category committee shall hold its meeting on every Monday. Assistant Director Law through Data Entry Operator will scan the file and update it on the web portal. Assistant Director Law shall inform the client Directorate through letter (at least one) about the case with category of the case. Priority shall be given to ‘A’ category cases. On receipt of the letter the Deputy Director of the relevant Directorate will ensure the provision of requisite record/reports to the Assistant Director Law deputed in client Directorate forthwith not exceeding three days from the receipt of letter.

On receipt of requisite record and report the Assistant Director Law deputed in client directorate shall prepare the comments/reports and forward the same to directorate of law in a time scale of two months (A category), one month for B category and for C category a pro forma reply approved by Additional Director General will be filed.

Assistant Director Law shall be responsible to convey every material order, judgment and decree to the relevant directorate. He shall address all the issues arising out of his communication with Additional Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser. It added that court clerk shall be responsible to apply for the certified copies within one day of adverse order passed by the court and to forward the same to Assistant Director Law on the next day of receipt of the same for further process.

At the disposal of the case, either in favour or against LDA, the court clerk concerned shall apply CTC within one day of disposal and forward the same to ADL concerned on the next day of receipt the same.

In case of ‘A’ category case, the adverse order/judgment and decree shall be forwarded for remedy on the day of receipt of the CTC. If ADL concerned is of the opinion that the case is not fit for further remedy, he will record the reasons and forward the case to categorisation committee for decision. Categorisation Committee shall decide the same within the time limit.

SOPs stated that in case of ‘B’ and ‘C’ category, ADL and DDL concerned will decide the issue of further remedy. In case of difference of opinion, DDL concerned shall refer the matter to the categorisation committee after recording the point of difference. Categorisation Committee shall decide the same within the time limit and in case of filling of any suit or any application, the file will be marked through Director Law to Additional Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser for drafting of suit or application decision. SOPs of Appellate Court shall be adopted with necessary amendments as the Director Law civil court shall deem appropriate for filing of such suit or application.

SOPs for High Court and Supreme Court stated that cases are initiated in High Court by filing a writ petition, criminal original petition etc and issuance of notices to the respondents. The cases wherein LDA is impleaded as party through DG, notices are received in DG office. Such notices are down marked to Director Law who will depute an official to receive the notices who shall put up said notices/summons to Director Law the same day.

Director Law shall forward the notice / writ petition to the Deputy Director Law the same day who shall forward it to Assistant Director Law. The Assistant Director Law will complete the legal file through record keeper and Suit Clerk. After the competition of file the Assistant Director Law will ascertain the relevant client Directorate in consultation with Deputy Director Law. He will issue letter to relevant client Directorate for the report and para-wise comments within three days of completion of the file. All the cases pending in High Court shall be treated as ‘A’ category. He will update it on the Web portal through data entry operator.

After issuance of letter as mentioned above, the Deputy Director Law will forward the file to the director Law for assigning the case to the Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser LDA. The Director Law shall nominate the Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser on the same day, keeping in view the sensitivity of the case. On the receipt of the letter for comments, the director of the relevant Directorate will ensure through the Deputy Director the provision of requisite record/reports to Assistant Director Law not exceeding three days from the receipt of the letter.

On the receipt of requisite record and report the Assistant Director Law deputed client Directorate shall prepare comment/reports and forward the same to Directorate of Law within 10 days along with all the relevant annexure through Director of his client Directorate. He will also update it on the Web portal through data entry operator.

On the receipt of reports/comments the Deputy Director Law and Assistant Director shall ensure its attachment in relevant file. Assistant Director Law, on receipt of report/comments from all the relevant Directorates will forward the file to Deputy Director Law who if satisfied will prepare written reply and forward it to Legal Adviser for vetting. The Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser will vet it and forward the same to Deputy Director Law within two days who will make sure its filing before the next date of hearing.

The record keeper shall prepare a duplicate file to be retained in law directorate for record and correspondence whereas original case file will be forwarded to Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser/ALA to whom the case has been assigned.

The Deputy Director Law through Assistant Director Law shall convey every material order to relevant client Directorate within two days of the order.

Director Law shall be kept updated about every material information by the Deputy Director Law. Director Law shall depute an official to be attached with Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser for maintaining record in their offices and assisting them. A suit clerk will also be deputed by the Director Law who shall look after the matters in field. He shall be responsible to apply for the certified copies of the orders passed by the courts within one day. In case any adverse order is passed by the court, the suit clerk shall immediately get the non-certified copies and apply the certified copies forthwith.

The Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser shall be responsible for contesting the case in the court vigorously and to safeguard the interest of LDA. He will be responsible for intimating the directions/ orders passed by the courts and outcome of each and every case within two days of the receipt of the order to Director Law enabling him to communicate the same to the directorates concerned for compliance and to high-ups in case of urgent matters.

If the final decision of the case is against LDA or any adverse order is passed, the Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser shall communicate it to the Director Law. In case the judgment/order is to be challenged, the Deputy Director Law (high court appeals) shall ensure the forwarding of the file to the Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser within two days of receipt of the orders for preparation of the draft of Appeal/Revision/ICA etc. The Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser shall prepare seriously observing the limitation period and shall forward the draft to the Director Law 10 days before the expiry of limitation. The draft will be signed by the Deputy Director Law and will be filed in the court by suit clerk.

In the cases wherein direction is passed to the Director General LDA to afford opportunity of hearing to the applicant/petitioner and passed speaking order within given time frame, the Director Law shall circulate the copy of the order to the client Directorate within two days of the receipt of the order. The client Director shall prepare the case file for hearing along with complete record and facts of the case. Time will be sought from the Director General for hearing by the Director concerned and complete assist shall be provided to the Director General LDA for proper hearing and passing speaking order within given time frame by the court. A copy of speaking order shall forward to the Deputy Registrar Judicial Lahore High Court as well as to the Director Law.

If expert legal opinion is required by any directorate of LDA, the relevant file along with specific questions/points, where upon opinion is required, shall be forwarded by the director of client directorate to the Director Law who will forward the same to the Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser who will be bound to furnish legal opinion within three working days and return the file to Director Law for onward transmitting to the client director.

On receipt of contempt petition either from court or from the office of the Director General LDA, the same shall be forwarded to the client directorate for filing reply within two days who shall forward the reply in prescribed manner in SOPs along with compliance report. The client director of the client directorate shall also submit a report to the Director General office mentioning the reason of non-compliance of the orders of the High Court.

If remedy can only be availed before the Supreme Court the case will be referred to the Supreme Court section who will place the case before the scrutiny committee already constituted comprising Additional Director General LDA (Urban Planning LDA/Chairperson), Head of concerned Wing, Director Law, Senior Legal Adviser/Additional Legal Advisers and Legal Adviser/ Additional Legal Adviser, LDA.