Clear Backlog of Pending Cases

A Pakistani Newspaper - DAWN dated the 18th October, 2011, carried a news item, whereby President of Pakistan has expressed his concern and anguish over huge pile of cases numbering in lakhs, pending in High Courts and Supreme Court of Pakistan.  He has also called upon the judges working in various courts there to devise some means and methods for clearing those pending cases, as lakhs of people are undergoing a lot of mental, physical and psychological trauma / problems due to their cases going on in various courts for years together and also that there seems to be no end in sight to relieve the people of the trauma of fighting court cases. He has further told the Judges that, in case they feel that they do not have sufficient time at their disposal to settle those pending cases while working in a five day week environment, the judges should hold hearings on Saturdays also, and efforts should be made that all cases pending in High Courts and Supreme Court of Pakistan for more than seven years, are taken to the logical conclusions / judgements etc. in next one year. Not only that, he has also emphasised that the Judges should themselves devise some means and working environment in  such a way so as to ensure that cases must be settled maximum within a maximum period of five to  seven years.

While talking on the cases pending in various Courts there, (with due respect and regards to our judiciary)  it is felt that our record is also not much better than that of our neighbour - Pakistan. Here too, people are sufferings a lot as their cases continue to linger on for years together, sometimes even extending up to 15 to 20 years. The reasons may be many, and one amongst them is change of judges every six months, by the virtue or vice of which, the cases get transferred to another judge. And whenever the case gets shifted to another judge, first hearing in his court generally gets lost in mere introduction of the case and, by the time 4 or 5 hearings are conducted and the litigants (particularly, the petitioners feels that now their case has reached the final stage of hearings and their judgement is likely to be pronounced soon), the dealing judge again gets changed. Thus, the hopes and aspirations of the petitioner get lost and they feel very much cheated by the prevailing system, which is going on since independence. Apart from precious / limited money which is spent on fighting the cases, a lot of precious time is also lost. 

In view of the above, it is requested that our Government and the Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court should also form a committee which should look into all the reasons and aspects which cause delay in pronouncement of its judgements and sincere endeavours should be made to minimise those irritants, and thereby, the sufferings of the litigants, particularly the individual petitioners. Efforts should also be made to settle the cases within a period of 3 to 4 years, with a maximum period of five years in complex cases. After all, what shall be the use / benefit of a judgement in case the petitioner dies waiting for justice for years together ? The old maxim – Justice delayed is justice denied, again substantiates its value. 

R.D. Bhardwaj “Noorpuri”,

Dated :  20^th October, 2011