' This case has been going on for the past few years. On 9.5.2013 the earlier filed matters i.e, SMC No, 4/2004, SMC Nos. 1, 2, 6 & 7 of 2005 and SMC No, 17 of 2007 were disposed of vide order dated 9.5.2013 in the following terms: "In these cases, notices have been served in respect of the glaring mistakes committed by the authors and publishers in bare acts and law books. It is pointed out that the matter has already been referred to the respective Bar Councils to look into the matter. Since the matter relates to the printing of the law books, etc. Therefore, the respective Bar Councils within their permissible jurisdiction under the Legal Practitioner and Bar Council Act, 1973, shall be free to take action if such material is provided to them, therefore, the above said petitions are disposed of."
' Thereafter it was noted that no step has been taken by the respective Bar Councils to address the serious issue adversely impacting the administration of justice. Even today and on previous dates of hearing it is evident that there is practically no interest in the matter from the Bar Councils despite the above referred order dated 9.5.2013. In addition even the Federation and the Provinces appear to be wholly disinterested. We find it to be quite extra ordinary that there is in fact no official publication whether in hard form or on the Net (Internet) which can provide an accurate and error free version of the law. As such there is no possible means available to the citizens of this country to know what the statute book contains. We had, therefore, asked the learned DAG to ascertain at least from the Federal Law Ministry if there is a compendium of all statutes which can be accessed by a citizen or other persons interested in the laws of Pakistan.
2. We are 'sorry to note that no such compendium is available even on the Web Site of the Federal Law Ministry. Our own research staff was, therefore, deputed for this purpose today and they have ' informed us that the Web Site of the Law Ministry is grossly A inadequate because it does not contain the statutes which are currently on the statute book. We, therefore, asked Mr. Saleem Ahmad, Librarian of the Supreme Court Library to let us know if the Pakistan Code is available in printed form. He has stated that the only publication available is the Pakistan Code which has been published by the Manager of Publication, Government of Pakistan, Karachi, in the year 2010. The table of contents of the said publication indicates firstly, that a number of statutes have not been printed; secondly, that the various amendments etc. Have also not been completely indicated, as such hampering access to the laws of Pakistan. Similar is the position of the provinces. In fact only the Law Officers of. The Punjab and KPK Provinces are present. The other provinces have not bothered to attend this hearing.
3. We, therefore, direct that the Law Secretaries of the Federation and the four provinces shall make sure that the entire statute book is made available both in hard form and on the Web Sites of the Law Departments of the four Governments with translations thereof in Urdu and Provincial languages. The situation represented by the present case is alarming and may be one of the contributing causes of the lawlessness which prevails in our society today. It is obvious that where applicable laws are not available to citizens, there can be little expectation that they will be able to abide by the law. In any event it is amongst the rights of the people of Pakistan that they be given full information about the laws applicable to them. The Rules of Business also show that the Federal Governments is obliged to make "arrangements for the publication and translation of Federal Laws and other statutory rules and orders". Similar provisions are to be found in the Rules of Business of the provinces.
4. Let the matter be listed for hearing on 19.1.2015 on which date the learned Secretaries of the five Governments or senior functionaries of the Law Departments well conversant with the case shall appear and explain why the laws are not being made available to the people of Pakistan resulting in denial of their fundamental rights.
5. As for the publishers of law books, the provinces shall also inform the Court as to the laws and rules, if any, made by the Government to ensure that no errors are printed in law books because we have noted in a number of cases that serious problems are caused to the parties and litigants on account of errors and omissions in law books published in Pakistan. The end sufferers in these cases of errors/omissions are again the citizens.
6. The office shall forthwith transmit a copy of this order to the Federal and Provincial Governments, Bar Councils as well as the Law Secretaries of the five Governments.