By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday issued a report on its pending cases, showing that the number of cases yet to be decided has surpassed the mark of 50,000 cases.
According to the 15-day report issued by the apex court, the number of pending cases with the SC has reached 50,658. During the period of 16 to 30 April, 1949 cases have been filed with the apex court as it decided 364 matters. During a two-week period, the Supreme Court did not decide a single case in its Karachi and Peshawar registries.
One case was decided out of 212 filed with the apex court’s Lahore registry while the Islamabad seat of the court decided the most 363 cases out of 1601 matters take up before it. The report highlighted an increase of 1,385 pending cases witnessed during the period. It is pertinent to mention here that the apex court has taken measures needed for addressing the issue of pending cases and in July last year, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed ordered the formation of 120 new accountability courts for early decisions on pending accountability cases.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed while hearing a case directed the Law Secretary to constitute 120 new accountability courts with the appointment of judges taking directives from the competent authorities. The top judge also directed for a decision on all pending references of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) within three months.
It is to be mentioned here that the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khan Khosa in March, 2019, had said under the ‘Expeditious Justice Initiative’, model courts would be established at the district level throughout the country which would conduct the trials on day to day and continuous basis.
Last year, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had ordered the formation of 120 new accountability courts for early decisions on pending accountability cases.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed while hearing a case had directed the Law Secretary to constitute 120 new accountability courts with the appointment of judges taking directives from the competent authorities.
Earlier on March 18, the Sindh High Court had approved formation of model courts across Sindh. The SHC registrar had issued a notification for setting up model courts in the province. An additional sessions’ judge will be the head of each model in each district.
According to the notification, model courts will decide every case it deals within a period of three months. While in the next phase, cases of family disputes, tenancy matters, and others will be moved to the newly-formed model courts.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khan Khosa on March 11 had said under the ‘Expeditious Justice Initiative’, model courts would be established at district level throughout the country which would conduct the trials on day to day and continuous basis.
