Pending cases: PHC CJ assures to address lawyers’ concerns

Lawyers say September 30 deadline for disposing cases will overburden judiciary.

PESHAWAR:

Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan has agreed to address the concerns of lawyers against the judicial policy of disposing all pending cases prior to February 2011 by September 30.

Members of the district bar and PHC Bar Association (PHCBA) met the CJ on Wednesday and requested him to extend the deadline.

PHCBA General Secretary Qazi Jawad told The Express Tribune that CJ Khan heard their concerns and said the PHC would look into the matter.

A letter issued on September 14 by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, expressed concerns over the delay in disposing cases by judges of K-P’s district and sessions courts.

“This fact leads me to believe that the K-P district and sessions court judges are not performing their supervisory roles and the guidelines provided in the policy are not being followed,” the CJP wrote in the letter.

The letter was criticised by Peshawar’s legal fraternity, who announced a strike of all court proceedings on Wednesday.

The president of the district bar association, Wakeel Zaman, said: “Although it will help reduce pendency, people will be denied justice.”

“Judges are holding day to day case hearings and in some cases a lawyer has to appear before 30 courts in one day,” Zaman said. Litigants want justice, not the disposal of their cases, he added. The CJP has asked judges to file a report through the members’ inspection team by Saturday and cite reasons for delay in disposal of cases.

The resulting data will be discussed in the National Judicial Policy Making Committee’s meeting on October 6 in Quetta.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2012.