The Supreme Court of Pakistan has stated that the number of pending cases till 31 August 2023 is 56544, including 653 provisional cases and 9384 criminal cases.

Earlier in March 2023, the PDM government's Law Minister had informed the National Assembly that the number of cases pending in the country's high courts for five years was 3 lakh 80 thousand.

Among them, Supreme Court 51 thousand, Islamabad High Court 17 thousand, Lahore 179 thousand, Sindh 85 thousand, Peshawar 91 thousand  and Balochistan High Court 4 thousand cases were pending in district courts across the country at that time. The number is said to be more than 20 lakh.

Compared to them, the number of active judges is around 3,000, so on an average, more than seven hundred cases come to a judge, while there are more than a thousand vacant posts of judges in the high and subordinate courts, and even if they are filled, it will be difficult to deal with the mentioned number.

A challenge appears. Another factor in pending cases is the delay in police investigation in criminal cases, due to which thousands, if not millions, of the accused remain in custody for many years awaiting their verdict.

Majority of the pending cases are based on lies. This painful situation calls for judicial reforms. The past governments have worked on it to a great extent, but the matter could not go ahead. It is now up to the incoming National Assembly to make the reform agenda one of its first priorities and establish a clutter-free and effective judicial system in all respects.

There is no denying that our legal system is marred by undue delays and snags. Cases run for years and years with no sight of decisions. Sometime the decisions are delivered when the accused are no more. However, during the previous coalition government, our legal gurus had started taking note of these snags.

In January, the country's superior Court said that a detained accused should not suffer in case the lawyer fighting his case goes on strike. This clause is an integral part of the just-enacted 'Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette of Advocates' by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC.

It clearly says that  an advocates  is bound to  appear in court when the case is called' and if the lawyer is not available on the due date, then he should make satisfactory alternative arrangements'," said Justice Qazi Faez Isa in one of his decision. One hopes that more such steps are needed to update our legal system so that justice is not delayed. Justice Isa had rightly observed that an accused should have access to the protection of law' and if lawyers are absent from courts, then the accused person is deprived of constitutional right.

More such steps need to be done to safeguard the rights of the accused. Sadly,  snags have become an integral part of our justice system which needs a total revamp.  As a matter of fact, it the duty of  the courts to not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by police, the govt authorities or the influential in our society.

The huge backlog of cases at judicial forums is another aspect that points to the slow proceedings in the courts.  In 2019, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan had declared reducing the large number of unsettled cases as his top priority. Model courts were set up and e-courts introduced to make the disposal of cases more timely and hassle-free but all in vain. The slow procedures due to loopholes within the proceedings and slow disposal of cases tend to muddy the credibility of our judicial system.

Our criminal justice system is extremely slow due to which is becomes ineffective as justice is delayed beyond limits.  Even the young offenders are unable to get justice due to this huge backlog of cases.  On the other hand, it has been noticed that criminals arrested by the LEAs  exploit the loopholes in the legal proceedings to their own benefit and are set free by courts due to lack of evidence or on technical basis. This results in lowering the morale of the morale of the LEAs as it has been claimed by the officials from LEAs on many occasions that they make arrest of criminals red-handed but they are later set free by the courts due to lack of evident or on a technical basis. Recently, the International World Justice Project also flayed our justice system in its report which is not a good omen for our legal system.  Generally speaking, the masses are unsatisfied with the prevailing justice system which is marked by long delays and proceedings due which they have lost faith in the judicial system. As said justice delayed is justice denied. The same applies to our justice system. Time has come to revamp and reform our judicial system before it is too late.  For effective and positive changes in the law system and for quick dispensation of justice, both the Govt and legal fraternity need to come on one page as it is a matter of legal reforms and not something that can be introduced without discussing the various aspects of the existing law system which is marked by snags and snail's pace due to which the cases which can be decided in weeks, take years rather decades due to slow procedures of the legal course.

The most vulnerable segments of the society are the poor, the less privileged especially women and children who need quick and easy access to justice, but the same is denied to them in the current legal set up. The previous coalition government also introduced some reforms but, the legal fraternity had termed these reforms as hastily introduced without taking their opinion into considerations as they allege that the government did not consult them on the issue. If that be the case, the government should invite the legal fraternity to give their feedback on the reforms and come to viable solution, so that the reforms which are introduced for the sake of early dispensation of justice should serve the purpose and not turn into a tussle between the two sides. The sweeping amendments should be made in a way to ensure the delivery of speedy justice and simplify the procedures in a way to benefit the victims. And that should be the motto of both the sides. On the other hand, we also need to restructure and revamp the decades-old police system, and the investigating in-charge should be a learned person, knowing the pros and cons of law so that law can take a due course.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 10 2023

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.