Islamabad:
The president of the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC), the president of the Interim Court, Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, has realized a letter written by the secretary of an IHC judge regarding the alleged demand for bribes by the court personnel, transferred to the IHC of other courts, of litigants.
The Justice Dogar constituted on Friday a committee that includes the IHC Registrar Yar Muhammad Walana and the additional record establishment Rai Muhammad Khan to initiate an investigation into the matter and submit a report within three days.
In a letter written to the IHC registrar by Judge Babar Sattar secretary about the judge’s instructions, alarm had been raised on the reported claim of “tips/ brochures” of litigants by the recently transferred personnel from other courts higher than IHC.
The letter had indicated that the “pernicious practice” of the court personnel who pursue after the councils and the litigating parties, to whom the court has granted relief, to demand tips and brochures have begun to raise their ugly head in the IHC recently.
“IHC personnel are full -time employees of the court and are paid appropriate compensation for their services and duties as repaired by law. For an employee to seek a tip of a lawyer or a litigating part for having received some relief by the court is an act of misconduct.
He said that all courts, including the higher courts, have established themselves to download services to citizens and, as service providers, is for the courts and their staff to fulfill these services the best they can.
“Accept any brochure or tip paid by a lawyer and/or a litigating part qualifies as a bribe in part of a court employee, and demand that said tip qualify as to seek rentals for the dispensation of justice, and cannot take place in the culture of the court that exists to provide access to citizens to justice. Such demands, therefore, must attract a strict discipline action,” he said.
