Judges not responsible for delay in disposal of cases

LAHORE: Supreme Court puisne judge, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, has said judges are not responsible for delay in disposal of cases or timely provision of justice.

He was speaking at a symposium, organised at the Punjab Judicial Academy on Saturday, in connection with a pilot project of criminal justice system in Punjab.

He said judges were often blamed for delay in disposal of cases, but the public did not know that it was a responsibility of the executive, and not the judiciary, to increase the strength of judges, and provide resources for timely dispensation of justice.

Justice Khosa said American superior courts decide 80 to 90 cases in a year, but Pakistan’s Supreme Court decides that number of cases in a day. And even then, judges are blamed that they do not deliver justice, he added. People always look towards them (courts) instead of going to the executive for redress of their complaints “as the executive has failed to resolve their issues.”

Justice Khosa said: “We, judges, are not behind the problems of the public; we reject it (the allegation) today.”

He said that over 1.8 million cases were pending across the country and only 4,000 judges and judicial officers could not dispose them of.

Referring to the newly-launched pilot project of criminal justice system in Punjab, he said it rarely happens in one’s life that one dreams of something and then sees it happening in reality.

“A few weeks ago, I discussed the idea with the LHC chief justice, and today it has become a reality,” he said and lauded Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah for his efforts to launch the pilot project. He said he never thought that the sessions trial could be decided so timely.

He said that the burden on the superior judiciary would be reduced if the trial courts deliver quality verdicts. He said that in the new system, the role of police was very important. He said the system could not work without the support of police. All stakeholders had realised their responsibilities and, therefore, the progress was before them as matters were speedily decided in four districts, he added.

He pointed out that justice did not mean only early disposal of cases, but quality judgments. It was important that the matter was decided in the light of the Constitution, he remarked. He directed the judicial officers to focus on the quality of judgments, rather than quantity.

LHC Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah also spoke on the occasion. He said a real change could take place only when the judges deliver verdicts with good intentions. He said there would have been no need for special courts had the regular courts announced quality verdicts. He said the pilot project in four districts including Attock, Chiniot, Narowal and Vehari had become an example for the rest of the districts in Punjab. 749 trials had been decided by the courts under the pilot project, the CJ said.

He said the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) centres had also been established and two centres had recently been inaugurated, which would be helpful in reducing the burden on the judiciary.

He said the pilot project was also being launched in two more districts – Lodhran and Mandi Bahauddin. He said the MIT office now would work as a directorate of the district judiciary and look into the matters of judicial officers.

Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali, Justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq and judicial officers of the model districts were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) registrar Saturday issued a notification of suspension of 37 judges of the Punjab subordinate judiciary. These judges were earlier suspended by the administration committee. The registrar also approved initiation of a regular disciplinary inquiry against them.

As per the notification, four additional district & sessions judges (AD&SJ), one senior civil judge and 32 civil judges have been suspended.

Suspended AD&SJs include Muhammad Ali Rana (Daska), Muhammad Bakhsh Masood Hashmi (Kamalia), Muhammad Rafat Sultan Sheikh (Chichawatni), Syed Ahsan Mehboob Bokhari.

Lahore senior civil judge Jamil Ahmed Khokhar has also been suspended, while the 32 suspended civil judges include: Nusrat Ali Siddiqui Malik, Sheiklh Allah Bakhsh, Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal Kalyar, Hidayatullah Shah, Muzammil Sipra, Muhammad Tariq, Saeed Ahmed, Muhammad Jawad Alam Qureshi, Nadeem Khizr Ranjha, Nadeem Abbas Saqi, Muhammad Yousaf Hinjra, Nisar Ahmed, Muhammad Mansoor Ata, Zulfiqar Ahmed, Ghulam Mustafa, Faiz Ahmed Ranjha, Muhammad Nawazish Khan Chaudhry, Muhammad Afzal Bhatti, Shehzad Aslam, Noor Muhammad, Abdul Karim, Muhammad Inayat Gondal, Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Warraich, Malik Allah Ditta Anjum, Sajid Mehmood Sheikh, Naveed Kamran Langrial, Shahid Nawaz Khichi, Babar Hussain, Shehzad Ehsan Butt, Abdul Sattar Bosal, Abid Zubair and Muhammad Akram Azad.