Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar Saturday visited Larkana district courts and met judges, lawyers and litigants.
He witnessed court proceedings, inspected case files, observed court procedures and heard in detail grievances of people and hardships faced by the litigants and lawyers and facilities extended to them in court premises.
He also visited judicial lockup and heard complaints and issues of under trial prisoners. He took stock of overall performance of district judiciary and prosecution services. He showed displeasure over absence of prosecution lawyers in cases and judges to decide cases expeditiously in accordance with law.
The top judge asked lawyers to appear in cases regularly and avoid undue and frequent adjournments so that cases could be decided in time and prompt relief could be extended to litigants.
The CJP expressed anger at an additional district and sessions court judge and ordered his immediate transfer after he spotted the mobile phone of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shyam Lal on his desk. Justice Nisar also questioned the judge regarding the case that was being heard. However, Judge Lal failed to provide satisfactory answers angering the chief justice.
Ordering his immediate transfer, the chief justice remarked, “We cannot compromise on judicial respect.”
During the court proceedings, he questioned that judges presiding over the courts and pointed out the shortcomings and discrepancies. Taking of notice the of the issue, he asked the Sindh High Court chief justice and registrar to take action against the delinquents and incompetent judges in accordance with law so as to ensure speedy justice to people.
Moreover during his visit to court, some people met the CJP and complained that their relatives or family members were missing and their whereabouts were still unknown. Taking cognisance of the issue, the CJP summoned the Sindh Rangers director general, Sindh Police inspector general and provincial heads of IB, ISI and MI today (Sunday) at Supreme Court Branch Registry, Karachi.
Apart from that the CJP also visited Government Hospital of Sukkur, Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) and Shaikh Zayed Women Hospital of Larkana where he met patients, heard their complaints and expressed dissatisfaction over dreadful situation of hygiene and cleanliness in the hospitals and directed the administration concerned to improve it immediately and address the complaints of patients.
During his visit, the CJP observed many deficiencies in the services being rendered to general public and directed the Sindh chief secretary and health secretary to submit a detailed report on deficiencies.
Taking notice of excessive and unscheduled load shedding at hospitals, the CJP directed WAPDA authorities to make hospitals free from load shedding so that patients could get better treatment.
After all these visits, CJP observed that all government departments needed to put their act together in order to provide relief to the general public and serve them in the best possible way.
The CJP expressed his anger over closure of collection center, improper arrangements at laboratory and dysfunctional X-Ray machines. He directed CMCH Medical Superintendent Dr Ali Gohar Dahri to ensure availability of all essential medical facilities and supply of medicines to patients and warned of stern action otherwise.
Published in Daily Times, June 24th 2018.
