Bars get free online access to statutes, case laws
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari Friday inaugurated e-justice program to enable country’s bar associations to have an easy online access to statutes and case laws.
He launched the first part of the project by inaugurating the automation of Multan District Bar Association which also marks a simultaneous provision of online legal information to 3o other bar associations of Punjab province for a period of two years starting from Friday. The ministry of information technology has launched the project at a cost of Rs 40 million to automate all bar associations, including offices of the higher judiciary, of the country.
In the first phase of the project, 31 bar associations, mostly district bars, from Punjab province have been provided online access to statutory and case laws while the remaining bar associations in the province will be automated within the next few weeks.
Addressing the opening of online facility to the Multan Bar Association, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari said the project titled ‘Access to Statutory and Case Laws’ was an extension of an earlier programme whereby the Ministry of Information Technology provided 82 bar associations of the country online access to statutory and case laws for a period of three years which ended in April this year. Among the beneficiaries of the previous program were 31 bar associationsof Punjab, 16 from Sindh, 21 from NWFP, three from Balochistan besides nine tax bar associations and three registry offices of the Lahore High Court. He said the ministry of information technology had come up with the latest program in response to a very positive feedback received from thebar and the bench regarding the great extent of benefits and advantages it entailed for the judges and lawyers in processing and disposing of cases in quick time.
He observed that the earlier program not only facilitated the judges and lawyers in remote areas to have ready access to all sorts of legal information, it also led to a great amount of job creation and efficiency in delivery of justice and related public services. He hoped the extension of the program at a much wider scale now would improve considerably the quality of services at various levels besides helping young lawyers to enjoy access to vital information without buying expensive legal books and references. “It should also help substantially reduce case time preparation which has been a major stumbling block in the quick processing of court cases,” he said.
He disclosed that in the coming months, the scope of the e-justice program would be enhanced to cover all tehsil bar associations of the country. The high court bar associations would also be provided the facility.
He said the e-justice program was part of a massive E-Government Program launched by the federal government to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the government, increase transparency and accountability and accountability in decision making and enhance delivery of public services to citizens efficiently and effectively.
Awais Leghari said his aim during the last four years had been to translate into reality the president’s vision of using information technology for the benefit of the common man.
“This e-justice program is just one of the several achievements we have recorded in the IT and telecom sector, the latter being the only public utility whose rates have gone down drastically during the last four years,” he said. He said the agenda of his politics was service to the country and one of his goals was to bring South Punjab on a par with other developed parts of the country.
He said he was proud to launch the e-justice program from South Punjabwhich was also the first region to be picked up for extension of scholarships worth billions of rupees in the IT and telecom discipline. He said the region had also witnessed an impressive growth in the fields of IT and telecom which offered a well-developed infrastructure to pave way for the launch of innovative programs such as e-justice and online provision of other key public services.