CJP Khosa clearing backlog: No institution of fresh cases in apex court

ISLAMABAD: There was no institution of new cases in the Supreme Court (SC) during the period 1-15 January, 2019, according to the latest data of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP).

The apex court disposed of 1,362 cases during this fortnight. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Asif Saeed Khosa assumed the top office on Jan 18 after Mian Saqib Nisar’s retirement.

The pendency of undecided cases had stood at 41,102 which came down to 39,742 in the period under question.

In the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), the number of pending cases remained the same at 375 as per the LJCP statistics.

However, the cases awaiting decisions in the five high courts and district judiciary of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and Islamabad were shown to be 1,819,512 by the LJCP.

Since assumption of senior most judicial office, Justice Khosa has not taken a single suo motu notice. While taking charge, he announced that he would do so sparingly only in very important matters dealing with policy issues and where no proper forums are available.

Litigants are not rushing to the Supreme Court with petitions seeking suo motu intervention as had been the case in the past. This has happened in view of the chief justice’s clear-cut declaration.

There were also instances when the pleas submitted to the active Human Rights Cell (HRC) of the apex court were converted into suo motu notices. However, this policy is now history.

A few weeks back, one petition was filed with the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) by two Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Usman Dar and Khurram Sher Zaman seeking disqualification of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) supremo Asif Ali Zardari on the basis of a report of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) into the fake bank accounts. But it was returned by the Registrar on the ground that the petitioners should go to the relevant forum. They did not challenge the registrar’s objections which is normally done. Instead they approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

It is stated that after Justice Khosa’s wearing the mantle of the top judge on Jan 18, several review petitions have been filed calling for reconsideration and reversal of the decisions taken during the incumbency of his predecessor.

Justice Khosa has repeatedly voiced his opposition to repeated adjournments, causing delays, and is disposing the cases at a fast track. Several murder appeals have been decided over the past few weeks, and this exercise is going on apace. Once, he, heading a bench, takes up an appeal, he ensures that it is decided in one or two sittings after hearing the arguments of all sides.

A major highlight of the proceedings, he has been proceeding, is that he has constantly spoken against false witnesses, and laxity of high courts and subordinate judiciary and police investigating officers. He has stated that witnesses, who even once partially lie, can be punished and barred for good from giving evidence in future.

Of the total un-adjudicated 1,819,512 cases, as many as 1,470,264 cases are pending disposal in the district judiciary while the remaining are with the superior courts.

According to the LJCP, the five high courts have 309,131 cases pending. The Lahore High Court has a backlog of 167,117 cases; the Sindh High Court (SHC) has 89,576 cases; the Peshawar High Court has 29,270 cases; the Balochistan High Court has 6,000 cases; and the Islamabad High Court has 17,168 cases.

As many as 1,470,264 cases are yet to be adjudicated by the entire district judiciary. The district judiciary of Punjab has 1,109,578 undecided cases; the district judiciary of Sindh has 102,663 such cases; the district judiciary of KP has 202,641 cases; the district judiciary of Balochistan has 14,139 cases; and the district judiciary of Islamabad has 41,243 cases.