LAHORE: Making a major move to change the existing criminal justice system, the Punjab government is going to empower public prosecutors to submit challans in trial courts and seek from the courts specific sentences for the accused in criminal cases.

This it is doing after having failed to make the federal government amend the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) so as to provide such powers to the prosecutors.The government had sent a related request to the federal government last year, and of ficial sources say the needful had not as yet been done.

The request contained some proposed amendments to the CrPC to improve the criminal system. One such suggested amendment was for powering prosecutors to check the conviction viability of challans before they were submitted to trial courts.

Sources said since weak charge sheets were grossly benefiting the suspects, the provincial government was itself going to empower prosecutors to submit them after checking their viability. This it intends to do by amending the Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service Act 2006.

At present, investigation officers (ofpolice) prepare and submit challans in the courts for framing charges (indictment) against the suspects. The courts in turn award punishments if someone is proven guilty.

According to the sources, under the law investigation officers have the authority to prepare charge sheets against the suspects on the basis of ingredients of an of fence. But often such charge sheets on the basis of which a suspect is indicted by a court, are faulty, making it difficult for the prosecutors to ensure punishment.

The faults in the charge sheets could be deliberate or due to the inability of investigation officers to fulfill legal requirements that could lead to punishment.

The transfer of the authority to submit challans will save prosecutors the hassle ofpursuing weak cases. Under the new arrangement, they will be able to reject weak challans on the ground that these cannot help to have a suspect punished. This will not only save the time the courts waste on meaningless cases but also benefit innocent people implicated in f alse cases, saving them f rom rigors of lengthy court trials.

The proposed amendment will also allow prosecutors to seek punishments against the suspects on the basis of the challans they will submit in courts for trial.

The courts could disagree with the prosecutors` suggestions but would have to give reasons for this.

At present the prosecutors try to establish that a suspect has committed a crime, but awarding punishment is the exclusive prerogative of the courts of law.