Federal govt abolishes 5 accountability courts in Lahore – Pakistan

The federal government ordered the abolition of five accountability courts, converting and redesignating them with newly-established tribunals and special courts, it emerged on Saturday.

According to a notification issued by the federal law ministry — dated April 3 and seen by Dawn.com — five of Lahore’s 10 accountability courts are to be reorganised or converted “with immediate effect”.

“The existing posts of Judges and supporting staff, along with budget and assets pertaining to the above mentioned converted/redesignated accountability courts are hereby transferred to the newly-established courts/tribunals as mentioned against each,” the notification read.

The notification showed that Accountability Courts I, III, IV, VII, and VIII were chosen for redesignation by the law ministry, with Court I being established as the Intellectual Property Tribunal, Multan and Court VIII as the Intellectual Property Tribunal II, Lahore.

It added that the Multan tribunal’s jurisdiction would encompass Multan, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan, while the newly established Lahore tribunal would encompass Gujranwala and Sargodha.

The existing Lahore tribunal’s jurisdiction would be Lahore and Faisalabad, the notification read.

Meanwhile, Court III was reorganised as the Special Court (Customs, Taxation and Anti-Smuggling), Multan and Court IV as Special Court (Customs, Taxation and Anti-Smuggling), Lahore.

The special court in Multan will encompass Multan, Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Sahiwal, while the Lahore special court will encompass Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Sargodha. Lahore was also notified as the headquarters for both special courts.

Court VII was reorganised as the Special Court (Central) Gujrat, according to the notification, which added that it will exercise jurisdiction in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin.

“Consequent upon reorganisation/conversion/redesignation of Accountability Courts, Lahore, already existing Accountability Courts-II, V, VI, IX and X, Lahore are hereby re-titled as “Accountability Courts-I, II, III, IV & V, Lahore, respectively,” the notification added.

The Intellectual Property Tribunal and Special Court (Customs, Taxation and Anti-Smuggling) in Lahore were both labelled “I”, respectively.