ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The government is considering bringing back the old magistracy system and has set up an 18-member high-powered committee to look into the matter. The panel has been given a deadline of September 30 to come up with its recommendations.
Sources said the system could either be restored fully or partially, depending on the committee’s report. The first meeting of the committee, which includes both serving and former senior bureaucrats, is expected next week.
The magistracy system was scrapped in 2001 under General Musharraf’s police order. Before that, deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners acted as executive magistrates with powers to monitor prices, control protests, fine shopkeepers, and conduct summary trials of petty crimes.
Officials say amendments in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) will be necessary to revive the system, as only then can administrative officers be given judicial powers. The committee has been tasked with reviewing governance both before and after the 2001 devolution, as well as assessing the current legal and administrative setup at the district level.
It will also study models from countries with administrative backgrounds similar to Pakistan’s, and recommend ways to improve governance, law and order, and public grievance redressal.
If restored, the system would hand executive officers powers at the police station level, including surprise visits, price checks, protest monitoring, and handling minor crimes through quick trials.
Past attempts were also made to bring it back. In 2017, the National Assembly’s Law and Justice Committee recommended a constitutional amendment, while in 2022, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi floated a proposal giving magistrates powers to hand down jail terms of one to three years.
In Punjab, a separate price and anti-encroachment force was already set up to check profiteering and illegal structures. The committee will also weigh how such parallel setups would work if the magistracy system is reintroduced.