Anti-Terrorism Court
Tries scheduled offences under anti-terrorism legislation, sitting in most divisional headquarters.
The forum
Anti-Terrorism Courts try offences scheduled under the anti-terrorism legislation. They sit widely across the country, and their listings move quickly compared with ordinary criminal trials. These courts sit in most divisional headquarters, and their procedure is built to move faster than an ordinary sessions trial, with tighter limits on adjournment.
Where it sits
The principal seat is Karachi. It also sits at Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Peshawar, Mardan, Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Quetta, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana. A date given at one is not a date at another, which is why the bench belongs in the record with the date.
What a firm has to track
Dates come at short notice and the consequence of missing one is not administrative. A firm needs the next date in the hands of whoever is attending on the same day it is given, which is a communication problem before it is a software one. A firm also needs the custody position visible next to the date, because it changes what a missed hearing costs. Recording the outcome from the court rather than from the office that evening is the difference between a family being told today and tomorrow.
The date the court gives is a fact. Whoever is standing there records it in CaseMate before they leave the building, and the office acknowledges it — it does not wait to be approved.
The firm decides who goes to the next hearing, against the hearing itself. A matter at a distant bench is a travel arrangement, not a line in a list.
Every previous date, its outcome and the note taken at the time — so a partner can be answered without opening the file.
A hearing in the past with nothing recorded against it is the one thing a diary must never hide. CaseMate lists them separately.
Other courts in the same work
Start with today's list.
Set your firm up in a couple of minutes, enter the cases you are running this week, and let your associates report from court.