Shortage of judges: Dozens of petitions on missing persons adjourned

SHC decides to reduce its daily burden.

KARACHI: The hearing of over a dozen constitutional petitions, filed by the relatives of people who went missing after they were allegedly taken into custody by the law-enforcing agencies, was adjourned till December 21 as the Sindh High Court benches were stretched thin at the end of the year due to a shortage of judges.

According to sources, all the judges of the SHC met on Monday evening and discussed a number of issues, the foremost being the 150 cases before each bench and how as a result they were adjourned due to shortage of time or for some other technical reason.

In view of the long list of pending cases, which was growing longer at a rapid rate, the bench decided that each bench would hear only 40 cases a day while the rest would not be fixed before them.

It was also decided that cases instituted in 2010 and before would be heard while those registered in 2011 would be heard after the winter vacations (January 2012). The rest of the cases would be discharged every day.

The petitions filed in 2011 would be heard only if a court has given a date for a hearing while the rest of the cases would be adjourned to unspecified dates as ordered by the branch concerned. According to a senior lawyer, the decision was a positive one as it would save litigants from unnecessary visits to the high court and day-long waits for their turn. He added, however, that reducing the number of cases fixed before each bench could only be an interim arrangement, as it would lead to a huge backlog.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2011.