Backlog of pending cases: need for greater efficiency at lower courts stressed

The legal fraternity has praised the performance of the higher judiciary, but stressed the need for greater efficiency at the subordinate courts to clear the massive backlog of the pending cases. In May this year, the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) revealed that 1.7 million cases were pending at all levels of judicial hierarchy in the country.
However, after the implementation of the new judicial policy, it reported as many as 132,108 cases were settled, which brought the backlog from 1,763,480 to 1,631,372 cases in the first two weeks of June. More current data has not yet been made available.
The National Judicial Policy, 2009, consisting of various short-term and long-term measures for early disposal of criminal and civil cases with the objective of clearing the backlog of cases in the superior courts and subordinate judiciary became effective from June 1, 2009.
Talking to Business Recorder, senior lawyer Ikram Chaudhry said that the judiciary was doing a commendable job since its restoration in March last. He said the parliament must also play an active role in removing hurdles in the way of speedy justice through appropriate and timely legislation.
Ikram Chaudhary dispelled the impression that the judiciary was more active in politically motivated cases relative to humanitarian ones, saying that visible progress had been made by the judiciary on all fronts. He said that the judiciary could only issue directives, but the implementation was with the executive.
He lamented the general perception that the judicial orders were not being implemented in letter and spirit, especially with respect to cases of corruption and nepotism. "Judiciary is one organ of the government and it is imperative that all the state institutions, including parliament and executive, play their due role to ensure justice for all," he said.
To a question, Ikram said that he did not agree with the assessment of former President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Ali Ahmed Kurd and Chairperson of Human Rights Commission Asma Jahangir, who criticised the Supreme Court for concentrating on political cases and ignoring humanitarian ones. He admitted that the peoples' expectations with respect to the restored judiciary were yet to be fulfilled, but added that the senior judiciary had embarked on the right direction.
He observed that the NRO, case of missing people and written-off loan cases were all humanitarian matters, saying that these directly related to the plight of the common man. Ikram argued that the parliament was not meeting the needs of the people in terms of legislation, including enhancing penalty and punishment for those involved in smuggling, hoarding and black-marketing.
He added that there was also need for legislation to provide insurance to the poor, who lost their lives and property in different road accidents and other calamities. He also said that the government should be careful in appointing judges, saying that only those should be inducted, who had no corruption record, political background and who had a history of discharging their duties efficiently without any fear, discrimination and controversy.
When contacted, former President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Ali Ahmed Kurd said that he did not want to comment on the current performance of the judiciary due to "some reasons," but that he would give his point of view at the right time.
Former spokesperson to the Chief Justice and Supreme Court lawyer Ather Minnallah said that the process of judicial reforms had started and one must not expect ideal conditions overnight. He said that drastic reforms should also be introduced in police, legal and other relevant departments to provide speedy justice to the people.
He also urged the media, legal fraternity and other organs of civil society to discourage false evidence, which was often produced in our courts. To a question, Ather said that political cases mostly go to the upper courts because of the failure of other state institutions to perform their due role and he citied the example of NRO and other such cases.
He, however, opined that Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was still focusing on cases related to human rights. "However, it is still observed, particularly in the rural areas, that people prefer to approach the 'Jirga' or other fora to settle their disputes, thereby saving time and resources," he said.