EDITORIAL: Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa continues to make the headlines because of long-awaited, much-needed pronouncements. Now his order that “the practice of adjourning cases to a later date will no longer work” has kindled a faint hope, when all was lost, that the legal fraternity might finally be pushed to address the enormous, and embarrassing, backlog of cases. Yet, surely, he’ll forgive ordinary Pakistanis for reserving their verdict till they’ve eaten the pudding.
For, such a decision has been taken before, by former CJ Mohammed Afzal Zullah in the early 1990s, much to the chagrin of the lawyer community that were used to adjournments. And, with time, the check fizzled out and the practice was back in fashion soon enough. Now, with frequent adjournments being the norm once again, it’s no surprise that the number of outstanding cases in Pakistani courts crossed the two million mark some time ago.
All this makes the CJ’s initiative that much more important. He has taken over when a politically pressured and openly divided judiciary is at the receiving end of a lot of criticism. And whenever this institution comes under the spotlight it’s natural for the general disapproval to touch upon the matter of lingering cases and the monumental backlog also.
Now, since the CJ has strongly observed that “the number of pending cases in the Supreme Court is quite high, and notices should be issued at the first hearing and arguments should be presented at the next”, there’s hope that the large number of outstanding cases will shrink slowly.
However, this resistance to adjournments would only apply to justice Isa’s court as it is not binding on the other judges. Furthermore to put this resistance to adjournments would require care on the part of the roster branch to ensure that multiple cases of and advocate are not on the “cause list of the day before different benches of the court.
The old adage that justice delayed is justice denied is at the heart of the legal profession, after all, and it’s already very unfortunate that it has taken this long for the head of the judiciary to give this matter the seriousness it deserves.
The fact that cases linger for years, even decades, on end for no justifiable or understandable reason other than an inexplicable paralysis within the institution is the biggest reason for the general lack of public confidence in the judiciary. Yet no recent chief justice, even the more colourful ones bent upon forcing the court’s suo motu jurisdiction on almost everything under the sky, paid nearly enough attention to this problem.
Now, finally, the top court is betraying an understanding that by failing to provide prompt and proper justice to the people, which is the principal reason for its existence, it has let itself and the country down.
The CJ’s decision to order away needless adjournments also goes to show how simple it really is to get the ball rolling in the right direction. Hopefully the Bar too would play its part to make it a success.
There is a lesson in this for other pillars and organs of the state as well, few of which really stand out for their efficiency and/or professionalism. Most of their chronic problems were identified long ago, as were most urgently needed solutions. But the will to take the bull by the horns and implement desperately needed reforms has always been missing. Now the CJ is proving that the right thing to do is to take the first steps on the long road to those reforms without wasting any time, which must be appreciated.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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