ISLAMABAD, Aug 26 (APP):The ministry of Law and Justice had introduced various legislations to change the status quo in legal and judicial system, to ensure efficiency and improvement in the accountability process and to provide speedy access to justice.
According to the three-year performance report of the Ministry of Law and Justice, the baseline to change status quo was by giving full autonomy to the accountability institutions.
For the purpose, the capacity of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other accountability institutions were strengthened to pursue all major corruption scandals regardless of political affiliations.
In addition, to achieve the goals set out in the manifesto of the PTI Government, various legislations were drafted including comprehensive civil and criminal law reforms to provide speedy access to justice.
Likewise for the welfare of the common segments of the country, the Ministry introduced various legislations such as the Letter of Administration and Succession Certificate Act, 2020 and the Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Act, 2020.
To reform the criminal judicial system of the country and to provide speedy access to justice to the citizens, the Ministry of Law and Justice drafted/vetted, the new laws/amendments and the Acts/ Ordinances including Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) (Ordinance No. VI of 2019); The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 (VII of 2019): The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) (Ordinance No. XXV of 2019): The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance (XXVII of 2019): The Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance (XXVI of 2020): The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance (XXVII of 2020): The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, (Rape): The West Pakistan Juvenile Smoking (Repeal) Act, 2018. (Act No. XXXIX of 2018): The Pakistan Prohibition of Smoking Cinema House (Repeal) Act, 2019 (Act No. I of 2019): The Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act No. XII of 2020): The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act No. XIV of 2020): The Zainab Alert, Response and Recover Act, 2020 (Act No. XV of 2020): The Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act No. XX of 2020): The Anti-Terrorism (Second Amendment) Act, 2020 (XXIII of 2020): The Control of Narcotics Substance (Amendment) Act, 2020 (XXIV of 2020): The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Act, 2020 (XXX of 2020): The Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Act, 2020 (XXXII of 2020).
In the domain of Civil Judicial System, to ensure speedy justice and to address and minimize the backlog of pending cases, the new laws/amendments were made including the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2020, the Legal Aid and Justice Authority act, 2020 and Protection of Parents Ordinance, 2021.
As the COVID-19 Pandemic was wracking havoc globally and health care system had came under immense pressure, the incumbent government introduced laws including COVID-19 (Prevention of Smuggling) Ordinance, 2020 and COVID-19 (Prevention of Hoarding) Ordinance, 2020.
Ministry of Law and Justice, being a service ministry, had received more than one hundred references per day from other Ministries/Divisions/Departments including President’s Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office and Provincial Governments.
It is important to highlight that in last three years, the Ministry received 101,805 references and more than 101,684 were addressed resulting in an overall disposal rate of 99.88 performance.
To deliver justice to the masses at door steps, the Ministry of Law and Justice has undertaken 15 development projects for construction of courts and tribunals at Islamabad, Karachi and Peshawar.
These development projects inter-alia, were aimed at improvement of Governance, Automation, Upgradation and expansion of online Complaint Management Information System (CMIS), Archiving and Digitization of Legislations and legal record of Law and Justice.
Moreover, to facilitate the litigants, Minister for Law and Justice inaugurated Federal Judicial Complex at Islamabad on July 15 and for effective and timely legislative proposals, the incumbent government has constituted a Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Law and Justice.
All the Federal Government’s legislative proposals, amendments etc. were firstly examined by the committee thoroughly and later sent to Federal Cabinet for its consideration/approval.
The pre-legislative scrutiny by the CCLC contributes towards quality decision made by the Federal Cabinet.
One of the remarkable pieces of legislation was the enactment of the Letters of Administration and Succession Certificate Act, 2020 and after its enactment, legal heirs of a deceased, were getting Letters of Administration and Succession Certificate within15 days from National Data Base and Registration Authority (NADRA).
Prior to this Act, the legal heir of the deceased had to run from pillar to post to obtain Inheritance Certificate. As per NADRA record more than 310 applicants had been issued Letters of Administration and Succession Certificate to-date and the facility was also available in Province of Punjab and Government of Sindh also had adopted the law and rules made thereunder, whereas soon the facility should also be available in province of Sindh.
The Ministry of Law and Justice, with the assistance of NADRA and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was working to provide the facility to the overseas Pakistanis which help those residing in UK, Middle East, USA, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and Europe etc.
The ministry also successfully defended the government in International disputes such as Karkey which was a great pride for the Ministry of Law and Justice.
