PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has said that if the federal government did not amend the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for restoring the executive magistracy system, the province would go the way Sindh and Balochistan went to achieve the objective.“Our government was the first to dispatch a summary to the Centre for amending the CrPC so as to restore the executive magistracy to the position of Aug 13, 2001, but so far have received no reply,” Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told journalists during a briefing after a meeting of provincial cabinet here on Tuesday.
He recalled that Balochistan and Sindh had already restored executive magistracy system by legislating on the issue on their own. “If the Centre does not amend the law then the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government too will bring back the system through the assembly,” he said.However, it was still waiting for the federal government response, he said, adding that provincial assembly session would be convened on appropriate time.Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti presided over the 38th meeting of the cabinet, which discussed various issues including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Compulsory Secondary Education Bill, 2011. Mr Hussain said that cabinet discussed the proposed bill and set up a committee to review some clauses. Additional chief secretary will head the committee and soon present its report to the cabinet.
The cabinet approved establishment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy with its main office in Peshawar. A board of governor will run affairs of the academy. Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court will be head of the academy and most senior judge would be its vice chairman. The academy, regional centres in the province, would provide training to judges of the subordinate judiciary.The government will also set up Regional Languages Authority in the province. For this purpose a bill will be tabled in the assembly to provide legal cover to the proposed authority, which will work for promotion and preservation of regional languages in the province.The government will also establish regional offices of the authority. Under Article 251 (3) of the Constitution provincial assemblies can make legislation for regional languages.
Regarding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Model University Act, 2011 the cabinet was informed that the draft was being scrutinised and would be tabled in the assembly very soon.The cabinet was informed that so far 1,100 candidates had submitted applications for getting free technical and vocational training in the country’s top institutions. Under the programme the government would provide free technical education to 1,500 students during the current financial year.
The government had released Rs300 million to the department concerned for the purpose.The cabinet also discussed Benazir Health Support Programme under which free treatment is being provided to poor patients suffering from hepatitis-C. The minister said that Rs200 million had been spent on free treatment while the government had allocated total Rs800 million for the programme. – Dawn
