There are various flaws present in our executive and judiciary but debate on each and every one of them would require a series of articles. We will try to concentrate on a single flaw which is of such a magnitude that its eradication will cleanse these institutions from a number of shortcomings.
The executive and judiciary suffer due to a complex system of unnecessary grades, which only complicate matters and become a hindrance in the path of justice. They cause a delay in execution of decisions and as a result many innocent citizens are put behind the bars.
We see that when the result of a case is announced by the court, the plaintiff and defendant can appeal to the high court first and then to the supreme court. Usually, until the decision of the high court is not announced no action can be taken on the decision of the lower courts, instead a stay order can be taken while waiting for the decision of the high court. The case does not finish even here. If the lawyer is competent and knows the tricks of his trade well, he can delay the decision by starting the proceedings all over again. According to an estimation, the first hearing of an appeal in the high court takes place ten years after it is put forward. Even this does not mean that the case will be finished within a few days; in fact, in most cases a couple of generations pass in persuing the hearings.
The same is the case with our executive. For example, if our Inspector General Police (I.G.) has to pass an order to the local S.H.O. of another locality, he cannot do this directly; in fact, it will passes through the D.I.G., A.I.G., S.S.P., S.P., D.S.P. and A.S.P. and then to the S.H.O. It is obvious that such a hierarchy causes unwanted and unnecessary delay in all matters. This official system of grades is also present exactly in the same manner in the other departments of the government. This is why it usually takes a couple of years for a person to have any pending official work completed and even then only a few fortunate people are able to achieve their rights.
Keeping in view this sorry state of affairs, we propose that the country be divided into small administrative units and every unit have its own judiciary and executive. All the problems of the citizens of that locality be entrusted to these institutions. If the administration of the country is honest and has a sense of duty then the number of cases will relatively be less and this will in turn reduce the work load of the courts. Besides, a court on such a small scale means that the judge would know all the people in that locality personally and this will prove conducive in conducting and deciding various cases.
Moreover, such affairs be reduced in which the appeal can be made to the high court and supreme court. After the decision has been taken by the court in the administrative unit an appeal be allowed in only one court about the civil law suits. To follow up this decision, the high court benches be set up at the district level so that speedy trials can take place.
Similar modifications be made in the procedural codes of the courts for speedy justice. For example, arrangements be made in which the plaintiffs and defendants in the courts of the administrative units are allowed to present their points of view themselves instead of hiring lawyers so that the objective of both the parties is not to impress the judge but to make him aware of the true situation. The cases in our country are being decided by the Adversarial System in which the judge is forced to give the decision in favour of that party which is able to prove its view more effectively. The judge has no right to give the decision against it even if he knows that the truth is on the contrary.
Opposed of this procedure, there is another in force, which is the Inquisitorial System. In this system the judge has a right to enforce the decision which seems right to him and he is authorised to present his own witnesses to prove his point. In our view, the positive points of both these systems should be combined and such a system should be developed for the hearings of cases whose aim is to make justice available as much as is humanly possible.
Moreover, the innumerable grades in our present system of government should be done away with and the administrative units be directly attached to the Provinces and then to the Centre. As a result the unusual delay caused in the government departments would be controlled. Also, an authorised ombudsman be appointed in every province and district to make amends for any excess on the part of the executive so that people do not have to go to courts for such problems and all sorts of complaints about the administration are handled without daly
(Adapted from Moiz Amjad's Commentary on Ghamidi's "Manshūr")