SC’s demand to reduce pendency criticised

Legal fraternity says impossible to solve huge backlog of cases in only six days.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council (KPBC) has called for a strike after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) received a formal notification from the Supreme Court (SC) to decide all pending cases filed before February 29, 2011 by the end of this month.

Officials at the PHC said that the instructions had been issued for all subordinate judiciary throughout the province.

Sources also say that the letter warned judges of negative repercussions if they did not reduce pendency in courts and it would
affect their Annual Confidential Reports.

The instructions have received wide criticism from the local legal fraternity. President of the PHC Bar Association (PHCBA) Abdul Latif Afridi said that it was impossible for them to decide verdicts on large numbers of pending cases in such a short period of time.

It is feared that justice may be denied to many under pressure of deciding the case.

Afridi also warned that there would be a backlash if decisions against prominent parties in the province would be taken. “It is impossible to decide 600 cases in six days,” he said.

PHCBA General Secretary Qazi Jawad said the ‘speedy’ disposal of cases demanded would not provide justice to those searching for it.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2012.