KARACHI: As many as 193,248 cases are pending with the judiciary in the Sindh province alone, compelling the common man to wander from pillar to post to get justice, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The shocking number of pending cases surfaced on the floor of the Sindh Assembly in reply to a question asked by the MPA Arsalan Taj Hussain here on Monday.
According to the details, there are 92,189 pending cases in the Sindh High Court (SHC) and 101, 059 cases pending in district judiciary.
“Of them, 37,090 cases are of civil nature, 54,269 criminal, 14,125 family and 7,738 banking court cases are lying pending in various courts, tribunals of the province”, according to documents.
The break-up of the pending criminal cases are: South Karachi 5,535; East Karachi 5,509; West Karachi 5,309; Central Karachi4,298; Malir Karachi 2,400; Hyderabad 2,422; Dadu 914; Badin 539; Thatta 661; Mirpurkhas 413; Sanghar 1,290; Sukkur 1,960; Shaheed Benazirabad 1,919; Naushehro Feroz 538; Khairpur 2,429; Ghotki 1,042; Larkana 1,185; Shikarpur 579; Jacobabad 1,241; Umerkot 262; Jamshoro 421; Matiari 297; Tando Muhammad Khan 158; Tando Allahyar 122; Kashmore-Kandhkot 837 and Kamber-Shahdadkot 969.
In a written reply to the parliamentarian, the Sindh government said that access to justice is the provincial government’s priority for which it is talking steps. “In order to reduce workload and expenses in the court system, Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism and measures such as mediation and conciliation are being considered through amendments particularly in section 89-A, Code of Civil Procedure (Act V of 1908) and Order X in 2002.”
According to the documents, there are some 33 Anti Terrorism Courts (ATC) established in the province that included 20 courts in Karachi, three in Hyderabad, one in Naushehro Feroz Feroz, one in Mirpurkhas, one in Shaheed Benazirabad, two in Sukkur, one in Ghotki, one in Khairpur Mirs, one in Larkana, one in Shikarpur and one in Kashmore – Kandhkot.
The documents further revealed that the Sindh government had recently appointed 67 Assistant Prosecutors General (BPS-17) on the recommendations of the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) and their services are also being utilised in ATCs for speedy delivery of justice.
