Slow disposal of cases: Lack of judges, frequent protests lead to sluggish progress
Some 45,156 cases pending disposal at the Sindh High Court in Karachi alone till August 2014
The statistics suggest that there was a backlog of 43,982 cases, while 2,052 new cases were instituted out of which 878 could be decided during the month of August. PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI:
There were some 45,156 cases pending disposal at the Sindh High Court (SHC) in Karachi alone till August 2014, according to the fortnightly progress report available on the SHC’s official website.
The statistics suggest that there was a backlog of 43,982 cases, while 2,052 new cases were instituted out of which 878 could be decided during the month of August.
The disposal rate indicates sluggish progress.
“The main and foremost reason for the slow disposal rate is, of course, the shortage of judges at the high court,” a judicial officer, who did not want to be named, told The Express Tribune. “The SHC is still short of nine judges against the sanctioned strength of 40.”
However, the officer blamed the legal fraternity for adding to the miseries of the litigants by adopting boycotts as their means of protest.
He recalled that former SHC chief justice Mushir Alam had asked the lawyers to look for alternative means of protest instead of full-day boycotts. “But the CJ was elevated to the Supreme Court before such efforts could yield gains,” the officer added.
CJ Maqbool Baqar has on occasion said that the judiciary was struggling to ensure the dispensation of timely justice to litigants. He has further called for filling up the vacant posts of judges in the superior and lower judiciary.
In October 2012, then-CJ Alam also introduced new file covers that were colour-coded to prioritise certain cases. Red file covers, for example, referred to petitions by senior citizens, widows and orphans, to be fixed for weekly hearings instead of long adjournments. Green covers, meanwhile, identified matters with stay orders operating without any final verdicts.
The SHC has also taken certain other measures, such as the introduction of email and SMS alerts for the lawyers and litigants to ensure their presence and avert unnecessary delays in proceedings.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2015.
There were some 45,156 cases pending disposal at the Sindh High Court (SHC) in Karachi alone till August 2014, according to the fortnightly progress report available on the SHC’s official website.
The statistics suggest that there was a backlog of 43,982 cases, while 2,052 new cases were instituted out of which 878 could be decided during the month of August.
The disposal rate indicates sluggish progress.
“The main and foremost reason for the slow disposal rate is, of course, the shortage of judges at the high court,” a judicial officer, who did not want to be named, told The Express Tribune. “The SHC is still short of nine judges against the sanctioned strength of 40.”
However, the officer blamed the legal fraternity for adding to the miseries of the litigants by adopting boycotts as their means of protest.
He recalled that former SHC chief justice Mushir Alam had asked the lawyers to look for alternative means of protest instead of full-day boycotts. “But the CJ was elevated to the Supreme Court before such efforts could yield gains,” the officer added.
CJ Maqbool Baqar has on occasion said that the judiciary was struggling to ensure the dispensation of timely justice to litigants. He has further called for filling up the vacant posts of judges in the superior and lower judiciary.
In October 2012, then-CJ Alam also introduced new file covers that were colour-coded to prioritise certain cases. Red file covers, for example, referred to petitions by senior citizens, widows and orphans, to be fixed for weekly hearings instead of long adjournments. Green covers, meanwhile, identified matters with stay orders operating without any final verdicts.
The SHC has also taken certain other measures, such as the introduction of email and SMS alerts for the lawyers and litigants to ensure their presence and avert unnecessary delays in proceedings.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2015.