Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has said that the judiciary under limited resources was trying its level best to dispose of pending cases.
“It is not only our duty to dispose of cases but also dispense justice. Huge backlog of cases is a failure of number of institutions which are not fulfilling their responsibilities as per law” the CJ emphasised.
The CJ was talking to an 87 member delegation of PN Staff Course, Pakistan Navy War College, Lahore comprising faculty members and course participants hailing from different countries of the world during its visit to the Supreme Court on Monday as a part of their inland study tour.
He further added that in our country, under the constitutional scheme, there are three pillars of state i.e. legislature, executive and judiciary. The state exercises its power through three components, based upon the concept of separation of power.
Jamali also added that to cater the needs of litigants of remote areas, circuit/ branch registries of Supreme Court benches are constituted at Provincial Headquarters for speedy justice. At the Provincial level HCs are working, there are five HCs in Pakistan under which District Judiciary comprising District & Sessions Judges, Additional District and Sessions Judges is working. Apart from regular courts some special courts are also constituted to cater the needs of litigants which include family courts, rent controller, service tribunals, anti terrorism courts.
Talking on the issue of strength of judges he informed the delegates that there are 60 judges working in Lahore High Court, 40 in Sindh High Court, 11 in Balochistan High Court and 20 in Peshawar High Court and 7 in Islamabad. There are 13 positions still vacant in Sindh High Court, 3 in Balochistan High Court, 4 in Peshawar High Court and 2 in Islamabad High Court which will be filled on merit.
