Senate panel directs govt: ‘Accountability & special courts act as per workload’

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Monday directed the government to rationalise the number of accountability and other special courts according to their caseload, with judges to be moved to courts facing heavier workloads to reduce pressure on public finances.

The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice, chaired by Farooq Hamid Naek, reviewed the functioning of special courts and tribunals established under federal laws, including vacancies, pending cases and monthly disposal rates.

The committee said courts should correspond to caseloads, allowing judges to be deployed where workloads were higher.

The minister of state for law and justice cautioned against abolishing courts solely because of a temporary decline in cases, saying their re-establishment could involve lengthy procedures if workloads increased again.

The committee instead directed the government to consider concentrating cases in a single court in areas where a future increase in workload was anticipated, while leaving other courts vacant and deploying their judges elsewhere.

The panel also called for a reduction in the number of accountability courts across the country and a review of other special courts based on their workloads.

The committee questioned the constitutional basis for maintaining federal or central courts dealing with narcotics cases after the 18th Amendment.

Committee member Zamir Hussain Ghumro argued that narcotics-related matters were no longer a federal subject and that Central Narcotics Courts should therefore be abolished or converted into provincial courts.

The committee directed the Ministry of Law and Justice to examine the constitutional and legal status of the Central Narcotics Courts and submit a detailed briefing at its next meeting.

It also sought a briefing on tribunals, including their statutory frameworks, appointment procedures, province-wise membership and the authorities empowered to make appointments.

The committee deferred the Juvenile Justice System (Amendment) Bill, 2026, introduced by Senator Sarmad Ali, after the law ministry submitted a clause-by-clause comparison and raised objections to the proposed legislation.

Naek directed the bill’s mover to review the ministry’s objections before the legislation was taken up again.

During the discussion, Ghumro asked whether juvenile justice legislation constituted criminal law.

Naek ruled that the Juvenile Justice System law was criminal law and therefore fell within Parliament’s legislative competence.

The Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and Pakistan Psychological Council Bill, 2025, were also deferred because their movers were absent.

The committee also reviewed salaries, allowances and other benefits for law officers, including assistant and deputy attorneys general.

The law ministry secretary said summaries had been moved in line with directions issued at an earlier meeting and that the process would require time to complete the necessary formalities.

The committee gave the ministry two weeks to complete the formalities for bringing the salaries of law officers at par and directed it to report on implementation at its next meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026