11 monitoring cell judges replaced

Only 29 districts were found to have achieved the target of clearing the backlog of cases filed up to 2008.

LAHORE:

Eleven judges who were part of the election commission’s monitoring cell were replaced on Friday by other judges as they were hearing many cases filed in 2008 or earlier (termed “oldest” under the National Judicial Policy), The Express Tribune has learnt.  

Judges Rai Liaqat Ali Kharal, Iftikhar Ahmed, Atiqur Rehman, Faheem Shahid, Khalid Saleem, Saifullah Sohail, Haider Ali Khan, Javaid Iqbal Ranjha, Sabir Hussain, Sohail Anjum and Mohammad Umar were replaced by Inshahallah Navid (NA-188), Khuda Yar (NA-119), Umar Farooq Waraich (NA-120), Muhamamd Aslam (NA-121), Tassadaq Hayat (NA-122), Khashif Ali Gujjar (NA-123), Altaf Ahmed Shahzad (NA-124), Muhammad Nazir (NA-125), Imran Ishaq (NA-126), Albasit Mudassar Ali (NA-127) and Afzaal Ahmed Hanjra (NA-128).

The decision to replace them was taken after the Lahore High Court Chief Justice sought an explanation from District and Sessions Judge Nazir Ahmed Gajana and  sessions judges of Faisalabad, Jhang, Multan, Sahiwal, Sargodha and Dera Ghazi Khan, as to why the target of the disposal of old cases had not been met by March 31.

The judiciary had been told to clear the backlog of cases filed up to 2008 on priority latest by March 31 as part of the National Judicial Policy. The CJ noted that 29 districts in the province had achieved that target.

The registrar directed the judges to explain why they had not met their targets. They were further directed to report the status of each case with the National Judicial Policy Implementation Cell established at the Lahore High Court through e-mail.

Judge Gajana told The Express Tribune that the judges who were previously part of the monitoring cell had been hearing a high volume of such cases. Their duties as part of the cell had been affecting their engagements in court. He said as many as 6,500 oldest cases had been decided in November and December 2012. He said 12,500 such cases were being heard by the judges including the ones who were previously in the monitoring cell. He said judgements in these cases would be announced soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2013.