Pendency of cases in top court hits 39,870

LJCP official says there are no pending appeals at Karachi and Quetta registries

ISLAMABAD : The pendency of cases in the Supreme Court hit an all-time high of 39,870 on July 15.

According to the fortnightly SC report, there has been rapid increase in the institution of cases in the apex court as 848 cases were filed from July 1 to 15.

On the other hand, the SC has decided 828 cases during the same period.

However, it has been noticed that this figure is increasing by the day as 39,525 cases were pending on May 31 but the figure has reached 39, 870.

Currently, 40 suo motu and 252 human rights cases are pending. 2,173 jail petitions, 221 constitution petitions, 1,070 criminal appeals and 9289 civil appeals are pending in the apex court.



The Full Court meeting held on July 7, already observed that there is rising trend in institution of cases that shows the trust of people in institution of judiciary.

During the meeting, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar asked the court to put forward suggestions and strategies to improve the case management.

The top court discussed in detail different ways and means for effective functioning and underlined the need to categorise the cases so that dispensation of justice can further be improved.

However, a senior lawyer believes that huge pendency of civil cases in the top court is the biggest challenge. He also recommended that time has come to implement a cost and fine system.

SC judges should also promote alternative dispute resolution systems in the country, he added.

The lawyer also says that increase in public interest litigation also encourages citizens to approach the apex court, even though litigants have no solid case to contest.

He further states that government departments should also review their policies and avoid filing frivolous cases.



During the Eighth Judicial Conference, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said, “There is a need to consider the ‘bar of finality’, about the adjudication on facts,” and added, “Only points of law should be brought before the apex court.”

On the other hand, senior lawyers appreciated the SC, especially Justice Khosa, for working to end the backlog of criminal appeals.

Meanwhile, Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) Secretary Muhammad Raheem Awan told The Express Tribune that a special bench led by Justice Khosa has decided more than 10,000 cases since 2014 and only a few hundred criminal appeals were still pending at the Principal Registry.

He said these should be decided by the end of August. Awan added that there were no pending appeals at the SC’s Karachi and Quetta registries.

Another senior SC official shared that when the special bench got active, criminal appeals which were filed as far back as the 1990s were pending in the apex court.

The bench cleared the backlog and now it is hearing criminal appeals from 2017 onwards.