Lower judiciary asked to dispose of cases in 4 months

NOWSHERA: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) senior puisne judge Justice Ijaz Anwar has asked the lower judiciary to dispose of old cases within two to four months, emphasizing that access to justice and merit should not be compromised.

He urged the police to submit complete challans to the courts and stressed the need to discourage false cases.Flanked by PHC Registrar Ikhtiyar Khan, Justice Ijaz Anwar visited Nowshera where they presided over a meeting with judges of district court at the District Courts Conference Room.

District and Sessions Judge Nowshera, Muhammad Asif Khan, Additional District Judges Muhammad Tayyab Khan, Kashif Dilawar, Zahid Gul, Shah Nawaz Khan, Senior Civil Judge (Admin) Asif Kamal, and other judges attended the meeting.

District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Asif Khan provided a briefing on the ongoing cases.On this occasion, Justice Ijaz Anwar called for special attention to the issues and challenges faced by litigants and urged the courts to provide maximum facilities to them. He said that the upcoming meeting with the additional chief secretary for Home Affairs would address the concerns about the Nowshera District Prison, along with plans to prioritize the construction of jails in Nowshera and Swabi.

Justice Ijaz Anwar said that the issue of power outages in Nowshera Cantonment would be raised with the Pesco chief and that the electricity loadshedding in the area would no longer be tolerated.

Following the meeting, Justice Ijaz Anwar, Registrar Ikhtiyar Khan, and other senior judges visited Nowshera Prison.During the visit, Jail Superintendent Saadat Ali Shah briefed the judges, explaining that the sub-jail has a capacity of 170 prisoners, but currently, it housed 470 inmates, resulting in severe overcrowding and hardship for the prisoners

He also said that frequent power outages had exacerbated the situation, causing further challenges for both the prisoners and the jail administration.The visiting judges toured six barracks, listened to the grievances of prisoners, and inspected the kitchen and dispensary facilities. Prisoners voiced their concerns, pointing out that overcrowding, coupled with extreme heat and load-shedding, had made living conditions unbearable. Some inmates also reported delays in the processing of their cases and claimed that they had been falsely accused.

In response, Justice Ijaz Anwar instructed District and Sessions Judge Asif Khan to expedite the disposal of old cases.During the visit, a camp court was set up where District and Sessions Judge Asif Khan and Senior Civil Judge (Admin), Syed Asif Kamal, heard minor cases and released 18 prisoners.

Earlier, Justice Ijaz Anwar also visited Swabi prison where he expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of construction work.He announced that within the next 10 days, a meeting would be convened under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Peshawar High Court, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim. The meeting, involving all stakeholders, will discuss the construction of jails and address the ongoing power outage issues for which orders will be issued accordingly.