Supreme Court. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
Approximately Rs75,306 is the average cost of disposing of a case in the Supreme Court, reveals the apex court’s annual report for 2014-15.
The report states that 16,021 cases were disposed of from May 2014 to May 2015, and last fiscal’s total budget was approximately Rs1.207 billion, which puts the approximate cost of each case at Rs75,306. Until May 1, 2015, a total of 20,149 cases were still pending in the top court.
Disclosing the statistics of institution, disposal and pendency of cases since 1950, the report pointed towards an increase in the rate of institution of cases since 2001.
In 2001, 15,243 cases were instituted and 13,070 were pending, but the numbers gradually increased every year. In 2014, 18,520 cases were instituted and 22,979 cases were pending.
Former additional attorney Tariq Mahmood Khokhar listed several reasons for an increase in institution of cases. “The country’s population has increased; as a nation, we are more inclined to litigation; most cases were filed against the executive, which shows the government’s failure to redress the people’s grievances; there’s a trend of filing frivolous petitions; litigants approach superior courts against lower courts’ verdicts due to poor standard of justice system; disposal of cases in different high courts have increased due to appointment of a number of judges, so appeals are filed against them.” To discourage the trend, he recommended implementing a ‘cost and fine system’.
The annual report says the SC judges have adopted different ways and means to clear pending cases. A categorisation cell was established last October. It has been operating under the guidance of Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.
Human rights cell
After retirement of former CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry, the rate of filing applications in the apex court’s human rights cell has decreased.
During May 2014 and May 1, 2015, 29,717 applications have been instituted and 32,387 disposed of. The number of remaining cases is 11,883.
The report says that since Chaudhry’s restoration, institution of pleas in the HR cell increased drastically. But the number started decreasing after his retirement and it continues to drop every month.
A senior SC official disclosed that after Chaudhry’s retirement, the HR cell’s activities have not been publicised in the media, which is why the people are unaware of its undertakings.
Around 20 people are currently working under the supervision of the director general of the cell. Legal experts believe that the present CJP, Jawwad S Khawaja, should focus on improving the functioning of the cell.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2015.
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