The chief justice of the Lahore High Court on Thursday sent a letter of appreciation to district judges for speeding up the disposal of cases that have been pending since 2008, including 795,673 cases from July to November.
Meanwhile, a strike called by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) in protest against the deadline of December 31 for the disposal of old cases won little backing and the courts functioned largely as scheduled on Thursday.
The PBC had called a strike against the deadline imposed by the National Judicial Policy Making Committee, saying it put unnecessary pressure on the courts to take shortcuts, which was not in the interests of justice.
At the Lahore High Court, the president of the bar association and other office-bearers visited judges and asked them not to hold proceedings in light of the strike, but they did not accept the request. But the judges reassured the lawyers that no case would be dismissed due to the non-appearance of counsel. Few lawyers went on strike on Thursday and most cases went ahead as planned.
In his letter to the district judiciary, LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial announced that the judges with the best performance, in terms of number of cases disposed of, would win laptops.
According to statistics provided by the LHC, a total of 795,673 old cases were disposed of by the district judiciary of Punjab from July to November, while 6,176 cases were disposed of during the first 12 days of December.
Chief Justice Bandial appreciated the increase in the decision of all cases old and new, but emphasised that the judges must decide cases strictly on merit. He also thanked the bar associations for assisting the courts effectively and efficiently.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2012.
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This only proves that these same judges were not working prior to this. If they were workinig and not sitting on these cases they would not have to conclude them in so much rush. How can they dispose of almost a million cases and provide fairness and justice at the same time?