Judicial activism: 20,000-plus cases still pending before top court
Legal experts blame suo motu cases for the huge backlog.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The top judiciary has over 20,000 cases awaiting adjudication since September 2012. As many as 45,040 complaints were filed with the Human Rights Cell of the Supreme Court between September 1, 2012 and September 7, 2013. Of these around 17,577 are yet to be disposed of.
Legal experts cite suo motu cases as the main reason for the huge backlog. Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood suggests the cases be equally distributed among different benches of the top court to clear the backlog.
Vice President of Pakistan Bar Council, Qalb-e-Hassan, recently addressing a full court meeting, insisted that the judiciary draft a mechanism for suo motu cases and opposed the suo motu jurisdiction of the apex court.
Adding to this proposal, a senior Karachi lawyer Khalid Anwar says that only a limited number of such cases should be fixed for a single day as this would help avoid inconvenience to litigants.
The Supreme Court has disposed of 18,927 cases pending since September 1, 2012 to September 6, 2013, shrinking the backlog to 20,911.
Of the whopping 20,000-plus cases most are pending before different registries of the Supreme Court. Some 8,282 cases brought up before the bench in Islamabad, 7,823 cases were decided. The Lahore registry received some 6,964 new cases. Of which 8,348 were adjudicated. Around 1,132 cases were filed in the Karachi registry. Of which 972 were decided. The Peshawar registry received 1,299 new cases and 1,314 cases were decided. Similarly, the Balochistan registry took up 438 new cases and decisions were handed down in 470 cases.
Some 11.75 million cases have been decided by different courts in Pakistan since June 2009. Of these, 11.56 million were taken up by the courts post-2009, resulting in the backlog reduction of 184,142 cases.
In his recent addresses, Chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry defended the judiciary’s performance. “Judges of the Supreme Court have put in extraordinary efforts in devising ways and means to expedite the disposal of cases. They worked on a war footing and spent extra time in judicial work,” he said.
“Since I took oath as Chief Justice of Pakistan, steps have been taken to improve the administration of justice in the country which includes addressing the issue of backlog of cases.”
The top judge addressing a full court meeting recently stated that under the Constitution, the state is obliged to ensure inexpensive and expeditious justice to the people not as a concession but as a right, but this has not been adhered to. Justice Chaudhry also said that pendency of cases is an issue being faced even by the developed countries.
Steps have been taken to ensure a quicker justice system including prioritising cases by categorising them as old and new cases. It has been ensured that cases are decided justly after opportunity has been given to both the parties to plead their cases.
During the period June 2009 to December 2010, about 1.75 million cases were pending before the lower and superior judiciary but despite submission of 3.2 million new cases, the figure was reduced to about 1.35 million.
From January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012 a total of 5.7 million cases were decided while 5.5 million cases have been filed during the same period.
The district judiciary has given decisions in almost all old cases taken up by the court till December 31 2008.
The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee also plays its vital in reviewing the disposal of cases addressing delays in legislation.
The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee sent formal requests to the government to increase the number of judicial officers and strengthening the court infrastructure. However, only the demand of Lahore High for 317 posts of ADJs and 696 posts of Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrates have been adhered to by the government of Punjab and initially an amount of Rs 1 billion has been sanctioned for that purpose with the commitment that further amount shall be made available, as and when required.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2013.
The top judiciary has over 20,000 cases awaiting adjudication since September 2012. As many as 45,040 complaints were filed with the Human Rights Cell of the Supreme Court between September 1, 2012 and September 7, 2013. Of these around 17,577 are yet to be disposed of.
Legal experts cite suo motu cases as the main reason for the huge backlog. Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood suggests the cases be equally distributed among different benches of the top court to clear the backlog.
Vice President of Pakistan Bar Council, Qalb-e-Hassan, recently addressing a full court meeting, insisted that the judiciary draft a mechanism for suo motu cases and opposed the suo motu jurisdiction of the apex court.
Adding to this proposal, a senior Karachi lawyer Khalid Anwar says that only a limited number of such cases should be fixed for a single day as this would help avoid inconvenience to litigants.
The Supreme Court has disposed of 18,927 cases pending since September 1, 2012 to September 6, 2013, shrinking the backlog to 20,911.
Of the whopping 20,000-plus cases most are pending before different registries of the Supreme Court. Some 8,282 cases brought up before the bench in Islamabad, 7,823 cases were decided. The Lahore registry received some 6,964 new cases. Of which 8,348 were adjudicated. Around 1,132 cases were filed in the Karachi registry. Of which 972 were decided. The Peshawar registry received 1,299 new cases and 1,314 cases were decided. Similarly, the Balochistan registry took up 438 new cases and decisions were handed down in 470 cases.
Some 11.75 million cases have been decided by different courts in Pakistan since June 2009. Of these, 11.56 million were taken up by the courts post-2009, resulting in the backlog reduction of 184,142 cases.
In his recent addresses, Chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry defended the judiciary’s performance. “Judges of the Supreme Court have put in extraordinary efforts in devising ways and means to expedite the disposal of cases. They worked on a war footing and spent extra time in judicial work,” he said.
“Since I took oath as Chief Justice of Pakistan, steps have been taken to improve the administration of justice in the country which includes addressing the issue of backlog of cases.”
The top judge addressing a full court meeting recently stated that under the Constitution, the state is obliged to ensure inexpensive and expeditious justice to the people not as a concession but as a right, but this has not been adhered to. Justice Chaudhry also said that pendency of cases is an issue being faced even by the developed countries.
Steps have been taken to ensure a quicker justice system including prioritising cases by categorising them as old and new cases. It has been ensured that cases are decided justly after opportunity has been given to both the parties to plead their cases.
During the period June 2009 to December 2010, about 1.75 million cases were pending before the lower and superior judiciary but despite submission of 3.2 million new cases, the figure was reduced to about 1.35 million.
From January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012 a total of 5.7 million cases were decided while 5.5 million cases have been filed during the same period.
The district judiciary has given decisions in almost all old cases taken up by the court till December 31 2008.
The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee also plays its vital in reviewing the disposal of cases addressing delays in legislation.
The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee sent formal requests to the government to increase the number of judicial officers and strengthening the court infrastructure. However, only the demand of Lahore High for 317 posts of ADJs and 696 posts of Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrates have been adhered to by the government of Punjab and initially an amount of Rs 1 billion has been sanctioned for that purpose with the commitment that further amount shall be made available, as and when required.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2013.