JK govt to form Law Commission to amend laws

The Jammu and Kashmir government is mulling constituting a Law Commission and based on its recommendations amend some of the regulations and delete obsolete ones with an aim to improve the state's justice system.
"After a careful review, the government will ascertain the viability and applicability of laws in the present times and will delete obsolete laws from the statutes. The government is mulling amending some of the laws based on the recommendations of a Law Commission, to be constituted," Minister for Law and Justice Abdul Haq said here today.
The Minister, while seeking suggestions from legal experts, asked if there was a need for amendments in certain criminal laws.

He also said the suggestions, in this regard, could be sent to the Law department so that the government can work on improving the state's criminal justice system.
Calling for mutual cooperation between prosecution wing of Law department and Police department's Investigation wing, Haq said, officers of both the wings need to work diligently as all are responsible for providing justice to the aggrieved people.
He also stressed on the need for coordination between investigating agencies, forensic experts, medical experts and prosecutors to have a fool-proof mechanism to establish a case during trial.

The minister said that joint efforts should be made to plug the loop-holes in the probe and prosecution stages, so that criminals are not acquitted by the courts on the basis of weak investigation.

He called for contribution of all the stakeholders in the criminal justice system and added the government is mulling fine-tune the criminal justice system by deputing dedicated professional police officers for investigation of the cases.
Expressing concern over shortcomings in drug-related cases, Haq directed law officials to make the cases strong and fool-proof to ensurethat the alleged criminals do not go scot-free and asked the Director Prosecution to issue guidelines to Prosecuting Officers to plug the lacunae in such cases.