Proof of the pudding lies in the eating
For a lawyer of my standing, affording a full time clerk too is not an easy job. I requested my younger brother, who also happens to be a lawyer, to watch another case titled Syed Wajid Ali Shah vs Azhar Ali Shah, etc, fixed before Member Judicial VII, Board of Revenue, Lahore, and request him to keep it in waiting
Inflated promises were heard and emotional speeches were delivered soon after the Lahore High Court’s new chief justice assumed his office recently. Various circles saw this happening as a good move for the dispensation of speedy justice. Measures were initiated to put the whole procedure on information technology for facilitation of litigants and legal community. And indeed, nothing should be expected so quickly from anyone having authority to exercise for the benefit of public at large.
Being a young lawyer, I too was very optimistic and motivated as I consider his lordship a great jurist and a daring justice. Some of my cases were pending for adjudication before his lordship and I was happy that perhaps they will see some progress and success as well. But here is what I witnessed during the last three days (Wednesday to Friday).
On Tuesday, I received a message on my mobile that a writ petition titled Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed vs GCU, in which I am counsel on behalf of the petitioner, is fixed for hearing before the single bench of the honourable chief justice. I felt blessed that finally, after repeated left-overs (when cases are adjourned without hearing), my case was fixed for hearing. I went to bed at 2am on Wednesday morning and got up at 7.30am. After spending more than an hour on preparation of my case, I took a shower and put on uniform. Getting late, I skipped breakfast and rushed to the high court. Sweating and seething over traffic jams and high mercury level, the moment I entered the fully carpeted and air-conditioned courtroom, I felt dizzy. The court was all silent and peaceful. Feeling my worrisome look, an official came to me and said no court proceedings would be held today. The boss had to go to Islamabad, he further explained. And this did not happen for the first time. In normal routine also, the reader of the court would announce left-over of cases after making us stand for hours in the open court, and the final result: disappointment, dejection and mere waste of time.
For a lawyer of my standing, affording a full time clerk too is not an easy job. I requested my younger brother, who also happens to be a lawyer, to watch another case titled Syed Wajid Ali Shah vs Azhar Ali Shah, etc, fixed before Member Judicial VII, Board of Revenue, Lahore, and request him to keep it in waiting.
Leaving the honourable justice’s court, I elbowed my way through the crowd gathered on the premises of high court and reached the Farid Court House, where revenue courts conduct proceedings, almost running bit faster than jogging. To my utter disappointment again, the judicial member too was absent and what we got was another date only. He was absent on the last date of hearing as well.
The rest of the day passed away in cursing this judicial system. The frustration kept multiplying. If a lawyer feels mental torture due to the system, one can imagine the sufferings of litigants who fight even for decades for getting justice.
It will not be out of mandate to mention that developed nations across the world have realised the true value of time and that only time is money. In our system, hours and even complete days are wasted as a matter of routine. After making us wait for two to three hours, a court official would suddenly appear from the judge’s chamber and announce that the rest of the cases, except urgent ones, are left-over, further directing us to note down next dates from the concerned office.
The wretched faces of litigants tell long tales of helplessness and hopelessness when they hear this news from their councils. And here starts the ordeal of black coats also of making all failed attempts to explain to the poor and uneducated the system of dispensing justice. Unfortunately, this jargon of legal system has never been in the range of comprehension of depressed litigants.
On Thursday, the second day of my experience for this article, I reached the 5-storey LDA plaza, where family and civil courts are established near Aiwan-e-Adl, at about 9.00am. I inquired about the exact location of Civil Judge Imtiaz Ahmad Hanjra’s court from the information desk, consisting of two-member staff who expressed their utter ignorance. One of them did me an apparent favour by asking to go to Senior Civil Judge Block, that, perhaps, he thought I won’t know about. Wearing black coat and tie in sizzling heat, I approached the concerned court with two roads in between. Five to six people guided me but no one was exactly sure about the court and the floor of the building. Finally, somehow, I managed to locate the courtroom. I found a paper pasted on the door of Imtiaz Ahmad Hanjra’s court telling that all the cases of this court have been transferred to LDA plaza — the building that I had already thoroughly searched through. From second floor of Senior Civil Judge Block to second floor of LADA plaza, the roads and footpaths are submerged in traffic of bikes and cars. Climbing even mountains looks easier than using these paths on the court premises.
Also suffering from a knee injury, I dragged my body upstairs and reached the court of Zulfikar Bari to which civil judge Hanjra’s cases were transferred. As I entered the court, only two people, one reader and a steno, were sitting there. On seeing the cause list, I felt another shock. The reader had put a date of 3 November, this being 22 September, without waiting for me or my clerk to visit the court notwithstanding it was an urgent matter and the case was fixed for preliminary arguments in a stay matter. The steno, a young graduate, told me that this judge has been transferred too and the new judge, Syed Ahsan Manzoor, will assume his officetomorrow. Earlier, two judges Nazish Ali Kayani and Muhammad Yasin had also assumed the charge of this court. And the whole process of transfers and postings happened in just two to three months.
The assignment of locating another case is even longer than this one. In this case too, four family judges were transferred in just one or two months and progress in an execution petition pending for adjudication for more than two years was zero.
On Friday, the third day of my tale, another contempt petition titled Ch Shoaib Saleem vs Engieer Qamar-ul-Islam Raja was fixed before the honourable chief justice. And yet again, to my utter shock and disappointment, he did not appear this time either. The cause list was cancelled and no court proceedings were conducted.
I just wanted to take off my uniform, throw files on the ground and put them on fire. All the verbiage and inflated promises delivered by the new chief justice seemed mere walls of smoke. If information of fixation of cases is delivered to the lawyers and parties, why not cancellation of cause lists as well? This is an information technology era, but perhaps we still lag far behind. The justice system in Pakistan will keep on crying. Conference, discussions, promises and speeches need to be materialised. Otherwise, many young lawyers may spoil themselves by getting disappointed and frustrated with this legal system.
