ISLAMABAD – The entire judiciary of Pakistan is facing a backlog of 1.355869 million (13, 55, 869) cases of different nature. According to statistics, 20,539 cases are pending before the Supreme Court. 1,812 cases are pending before the Federal Shariat Court, 1, 29800 cases are pending before the Lahore High Court while the Sindh High Court has a backlog of 39461 cases.
The number of pending cases before the Peshawar High Court is 18283. Similarly 5662 cases are under adjudication before the Balochistan High Court. 6139 cases are under adjudication before the Islamabad High Court. As a whole, 199,399 cases are pending before all the high courts. District courts of Punjab province have a backlog of 9, 27, 339 cases while district courts of Sindh province have 99891 a pending cases.
As many as 99,516 cases are pending before the district courts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province while district courts of Balochistan have yet to settle 7,373 cases. As a whole, all district courts of the country have a backlog of 11, 34, 119 cases.
When the Judicial Policy was enforced on May 31, 2009, the whole judiciary of the country had a backlog of 1.74891 million (17, 48, 910) cases. However, on February 28, 2011, it still had 1.355869 million (13, 55, 869) pending cases. The figures indicate that after the enforcement of Judicial Policy of 2009, over 3, 93041 cases were heard and decided.
Analysing the sizable backlog of cases, the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry which met recently, extended the period of disposal of old cases up-to September 30, 2011. The Committee resolved that all the cases instituted after January 2009 should be decided up-to March 31, 2012.
The Committee asked the judges and lawyers to strive together to meet the expectations of public as well as litigants and decide cases at the earliest. The committee also asked the chief justices of the high courts to monitor the performance of district judiciary regarding disposal of old cases through Member Inspection Team (MIT).
Considering various factors hindering the process of dispensation of justice including non-submission of challans, delays in investigations, non production of under trial prisoners, the Committee resolved that a monthly meeting of Registrars, MITs, Home Secretaries and Directors (Reclamation and Probations) should be held to monitor and improve the performance of their respective institutions in the administration of justice.
