SC devises plan for 59,191 pending cases

ISLAMABAD: A Full Court meeting of the Supreme Court was told on Monday that 59,191 cases were currently pending in the apex court.

The Full Court was held here under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Yahya Afridi and attended by all the judges, including Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who joined the meeting through video link from Saudi Arabia.

Justice Yahya Afrdi after assuming the charge as 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan on October 26 had convened the Full Court meeting to assess the performance of Supreme Court in the institution and disposal of cases, focusing on measures to reduce case backlog and enhance judicial efficiency.

After the Full Court meeting, Dr Shahid Hussain Kamboyo, Public Relation Officer of the apex court, issued a press release, stating that during the meeting, the Registrar Jazeela Aslam provided an overview of the current caseload and outlined the steps toward timely decision of cases.

She presented updated statistics, indicating that 59,191 cases were currently pending and introduced a newly devised one-month plan based on Case Management Plan 2023 prepared by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.

“The plan includes setting clear standards, employing information technology to effectively manage all categories of cases,” said the press release. It was stated that reviewing the Case Management Plan, the judges discussed a range of strategies to achieve the plan’s targets. Criminal and civil cases, as detailed in the monthly plan, were allocated to specialised two- and three- member benches to ensure swift and speedy case resolution.

The apex court judges contributed valuable insights and recommendations for further system improvement, underscoring their commitment to addressing case backlog, the press release added.

It was further stated that Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah offered additional suggestions aimed at reducing the case backlog and improving procedural efficiency initially for one month and followed by three- and six- month plans.

Meanwhile, CJP Yahya Afridi thanked all the judges for their resolve to implement the Case Management Plan in full, with a commitment to achieve the outlined targets. It was further stated that progress will be reviewed in the next session of the Full Court meeting scheduled for December 2.