Banking courts: Cases stay pending due to non-availability of judges
Of the five judges at the banking courts, four were transferred this year.
LAHORE:
Litigants at the banking courts are facing problems as their cases are not being heard due to non-availability of judges.
Of the five judges at the banking courts, four were transferred between May 2012 and October 2012 and no judges have been appointed to replace them.
Judge Salahuddin of court I was transferred on October 8, Chaudhry Naseer of court II on October 25, Azharul Haq Awan of court III on May 2 and Special Judge (Banking Crimes) Safdar Saleem Shahid was transferred last week leaving only Additional District and Sessions Judge Amjad Pervez, who is only hearing urgent cases.
Some court staffers told The Express Tribune that Judge Pervez was also likely to be transferred in a few weeks. They said on an average, some 4,000 cases were pending at each banking courts. Currently, some 100 cases are being heard daily at the court of Judge Pervez, they said.
Asad Abbas Zaidi, the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) general secretary, told The Express Tribune that the lack of judges was creating all kinds of problems for the lawyers and the litigants. He said court staff had no option but to fix new dates for hearings. This, he said, sometimes led to unnecessary exchange of hot words between the lawyers, litigants and the court staffers.
He said litigants were being given the reason of delay in hearing, but they did not listen to the court staffers.
The LBA general secretary said that the association planned to send a delegation to meet the Lahore High Court chief justice next week to discuss the matter.
He said the CJ will be requested to appoint new judges on immediate basis so that timely disposal of pending cases improved. He said 16,000 cases were pending at the banking courts. The non-availability of judges, he said, was making the situation worse.
Despite several attempts, Muhammad Liaquat, the Banking Courts registrar, was not available for his comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2012.
Litigants at the banking courts are facing problems as their cases are not being heard due to non-availability of judges.
Of the five judges at the banking courts, four were transferred between May 2012 and October 2012 and no judges have been appointed to replace them.
Judge Salahuddin of court I was transferred on October 8, Chaudhry Naseer of court II on October 25, Azharul Haq Awan of court III on May 2 and Special Judge (Banking Crimes) Safdar Saleem Shahid was transferred last week leaving only Additional District and Sessions Judge Amjad Pervez, who is only hearing urgent cases.
Some court staffers told The Express Tribune that Judge Pervez was also likely to be transferred in a few weeks. They said on an average, some 4,000 cases were pending at each banking courts. Currently, some 100 cases are being heard daily at the court of Judge Pervez, they said.
Asad Abbas Zaidi, the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) general secretary, told The Express Tribune that the lack of judges was creating all kinds of problems for the lawyers and the litigants. He said court staff had no option but to fix new dates for hearings. This, he said, sometimes led to unnecessary exchange of hot words between the lawyers, litigants and the court staffers.
He said litigants were being given the reason of delay in hearing, but they did not listen to the court staffers.
The LBA general secretary said that the association planned to send a delegation to meet the Lahore High Court chief justice next week to discuss the matter.
He said the CJ will be requested to appoint new judges on immediate basis so that timely disposal of pending cases improved. He said 16,000 cases were pending at the banking courts. The non-availability of judges, he said, was making the situation worse.
Despite several attempts, Muhammad Liaquat, the Banking Courts registrar, was not available for his comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2012.