Judges vacant posts blamed for pending cases

ISLAMABAD:

The Ministry of Law has presented the details of last five years’ pending cases in the Supreme Court and high courts in the National Assembly.

Minister of State for Law Shahadat Awan termed the vacant posts of judges as the reason for the large number of pending cases, saying the judiciary was responsible to make the appointments.

According to the documents, more than 380,000 cases are pending before the apex court and high courts.

At least 51,744 cases are pending before the top court whereas in Lahore High Court (LHC) 179,425 cases; Sindh High Court (SHC) 85,781 cases; Peshawar High Court (PHC) 41,911 cases; Islamabad High Court (IHC) 17,104 cases and in Balochistan High Court (BHC) 4,471 cases are pending.

Awan said there were three vacant posts of judges in the Supreme Court and 16 in the LHC. In SHC, 11 posts of judges are vacant whereas two each are vacant in BHC and IHC.

He noted that parliament was supreme and people pinned their hopes in it. He said parliament will have to look into the matter if an institution does not work, adding that it will have to legislate on it.

He said the “supervision control” of court rests with the judiciary and noted that judiciary had been given a “separate identity” in the Constitution.

Awan stressed that judges should be appointed on vacant posts in the courts.

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf also expressed his concern over the large number of pending cases and questioned who was responsible if judges were not being appointed to the courts.

Awan responded that judiciary appointed the judges, adding that the law ministry was only responsible for issuing its notification.

Expressing his view point, he said seniority was considered for promotion in every department, emphasising that laws for the appointment of judges needed to be changed.