At a broad conceptual level, Peshawar High Court has recognized that regular trainings of judicial officers and court personnel is part of the capacity building of District Judiciary, a  crucial area of reform under the Access to Justice Program (AJP). The various trainings, seminars, workshops, etc organized by Peshawar High Court as well as the District Judiciary evince that the AJP activities have successfully inculcated a spirit and commitment for legal and judicial trainings. However, in recent years, Peshawar High Court was persistently recognizing the dire need of a formal training institute in NWFP. There were also efforts by the Peshawar High Court to translate this dream into a reality. Those efforts, however, proved fruitful recently when a Provincial Judicial Training Centre was established on 11th March 2008, through a notification No. H (a) 43/Trg-I-II-III-IV-V/, which reads:

..............Whereas the proper training of Judicial Officers and Court Personnel is necessary, in order to improve the professional competence of Judges and Court staff, and to enhance the quality of justice administered in Courts;

And whereas the provincial government shall be asked to establish a full fledged Provincial Judicial Academy at Peshawar in due course of time;

Now, therefore, the Chief Justice is pleased to notify a Provincial Judicial Training Centre at Peshawar with a Director for making arrangements towards the end of capacity building of the Judges and staff of Courts.

Signed/Registrar

Efforts are underway to convert the Judicial Training Centre into a Provincial Judicial Academy. The Judicial Training is hectically working on a draft law for the purpose.

Mr. Justice Syed Yahya Zahid Gilani, Judge, Peshawar High Court, is the informal Judge In-Charge of the Judicial Training Centre. Mr. Khurshid Iqbal, Additional District & Sessions Judge was appointed as the first Director of the Judicial Training Centre. However, with a view to make the Judicial Training Centre immediately and fully operational, two other Judicial Officers were transferred to the Judicial Training Centre. They are: Mr. Muhammad Zeb Khan, Additional District & Sessions Judge and Mr. Shahrukh Arjumand Khan, Civil Judge as Director and Assistant Director, respectively.

Judicial Training Centre successfully organized the 5th Provincial Judicial Conference on 7th -8th April 2008. This two-day was a high profile activity of Peshawar High Court, for which all the arrangements were made by the Judicial Training Centre.

Currently, the Judicial Training Centre is coordinating a Basic Computer Orientation Training Programme for all Judicial Officers of the NWFP, which is organized by the Institute of Computer and Management Sciences (ICMS), Peshawar.

The Judicial Training Centre has designed nine training activities, which is in the process of approval. A tentative list of those activities is as under: