Supreme Court Research Centre (SCRC)

A.R. Cornelius, a legal luminary of his times and a distinguished Chief Justice of Pakistan (1960-1968) dreamed of a legal research centre at the national level, and aspired judges of district judiciary to make theoretical study of law for such centre by following the development of law in the statutes and judicial pronouncements of the courts of their own country as well as of other countries in the world. He visualised that the conclusion reached in these studies were to be published for reading of all legal circles, which would activate the academic interest among members of the legal profession and the judiciary.

Mr. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan being himself strong believer of the importance of research work for the development of any branch of knowledge, proposed to materialise the vision of the A. R. Cornelius by establishing a legal

research centre at the national level under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and ordered to place this proposal in the Full Court meeting for discussion and deliberation. The Full Court accorded approval to the proposal in its meeting held on April 30th, 2019. The Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan was thus pleased to establish the Supreme Court Research Centre (SCRC) in this Court and to formally inaugurate it on September 19th, 2019.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Qazi Feaz Isa is the Administrative Judge/Chairman of the SCRC Affairs Committee while Hon’ble Mr. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah &  Hon’ble Mr. Justice Munib Akhtar are the members of the said committee. Presently, there are one Senior Research Officer and five Research Officers working in the SCRC. These Research Officers have been selected from amongst the judges of District Judiciaries of all Provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory with due process by a Selection Committee comprising two Hon’ble Judges of this Court.

The SCRC assists the Hon’ble Judges of this Court in the legal queries arising out of the cases under adjudication, by sifting the relevant statutory law, case law and the academic treatises. The SCRC also publishes a case law update quarterly covering such cases decided by this Court as well as those decided by superior courts of the other important common law jurisdictions which have made certain development in processes of law and jurisprudence. The SCRC has a futuristic vision of working in three divisions, viz, (1) court-queries research division, (2) analytical research division and (3) developmental research division, with separate allocation of research assignments. In due course of time, the SCRC would serve as a dynamic research hub for benefit of the entire judiciary of Pakistan.

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