RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court has approved various projects for courts across Punjab, including Rawalpindi, under the Access to Justice Development Fund, most of which have been started.
The approval of the projects was given in the extraordinary meeting of the Governing Body for 2025. Three meetings held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi were attended by Chief Justice Lahore High Court Alia Neelam, chief justices of other provincial high courts, federal secretary finance, secretary ministry of law and justice and secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan. The main objective of these meetings was to modernize the judicial system in the country and make the delivery of justice easy and convenient for the common citizen.
According to the High Court Media Cell, several important policy decisions were approved during the said meetings and it was decided that bar rooms located in judicial complexes would be declared eligible for funding under Judicial Development Fund (JDF) and Underdeveloped Regions (UDR). The Governing Body also decided that All UDR funds available during the financial year 2025-26 would be used only for solarization and e-library establishment projects to enable access to modern legal research resources with energy efficiency.
As per the decision of the meeting, the Solarization and E-library Project of the Access to Justice Development Fund is being extended to all eligible bar rooms across the province for the development of backward areas, ensuring regional equality and eliminating disparities. Under these measures, the aforementioned projects have been launched in 14 districts including tehsils in the first phase. These districts include Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Layyah, Lodhran, Chiniot, Bhakkar, Jhang, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Khanewal and Vehari.
E-libraries have been established in all eligible bar rooms of the mentioned districts and the solarization process has also been completed in all eligible bar rooms. The ultimate objective of this project is to provide uniform judicial facilities throughout the province, which will not only increase judicial efficiency but there will also be further improvement and transparency in the justice system. In the second phase, Solarization and E-library Projects have been started in all eligible bar rooms. Similarly, making the judicial environment more safe and conducive for women in courts across the province is an important component of this reform agenda. In this regard, construction of centres equipped with all facilities has been started in 28 districts including tehsils to ensure the provision of facilities for women judges, staff and lawyers. In these centres, day care centers in 17 district headquarters and 15 tehsils, common rooms in 18 district headquarters and 40 tehsils, meeting rooms in 14 district headquarters and 61 tehsils, sheds for lawyers in 22 district headquarters and 53 tehsils and washrooms in 16 district headquarters and 42 tehsils will be constructed.
These projects will be implemented in Bhakkar, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Muzaffargarh, Sialkot, Khushab, Dera Ghazi Khan, Chakwal, Sargodha, Lahore, Layyah, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Jhelum, Khanewal, Pakpattan, Sheikhupura, Vehari, Sahiwal, Lodhran, Mianwali, Jhang, Okara, Rahim Yar Khan and Rajanpur have been started.
