Culture of Low Justice Delivery at Grassroots Level: A Case Study of Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (2006-2011)

Abstract

This study consists of Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001 about low (petty disputes) jus-tice delivery at the grassroots level as enshrined in chapter XI of Sections 102 to 106 as “Musalihat Anjumans” (Conciliation Courts). The system had been serving the people in minor civil and crim-inal disputes (low justice delivery) at the Union Council stage especially from 2006 to 2011 in Bahawalpur District. In the case study, as an important tool of qualitative and quantitative research methods, Semi-structured interviews have been conducted by the Research Scholar from the most concerned personalities starting from Mr. Justice and Senior Judge of Lahore High Court, Baha-walpur Bench to the Chairman, Municipal Committee, Ahmadpur East, Bahawalpur District. Moreover, as a measure of quantitative research method, original case files of civil and criminal formal courts of Bahawalpur and Punjab as well as from the informal court which is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre at Bahawalpur District Headquarter have also been examined by the Research Scholar. These ADR centers have been functioning since March, 2017 not at the grassroots level but in every district headquarter of the Punjab Province by the order of Chief Justice, Lahore High Court. The result of all these adopted qualitative and quantitative social sci-entific research methods show that conciliation process through Musalihat Anjumans (Concilia-tion Courts) under ADR mechanism at Bahawalpur District of Punjab Province remained a suc-cessful exercise during 2006 to 2011 as question No. 1, whereas research question No.2 and 3 have also been proved. Even in 2017 not at grass roots level but at District Headquarters level, ADR centres have been functioning for speedy justice delivery. On the other hand in formal civil and criminal courts justice delivery systems have been declared as a delayed justice delivery sys-tem from 2006 to 2011 and even in 2017. In the light of this successful case study government can learn from the experience of Bahawalpur district and can draw guidelines for the improvement of justice system in other districts of Pakistan.