Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the federal government to furnish reply within three weeks over a petition seeking fresh rules for subordinate courts to decide suits, petitions and appeals within a stipulated time limit.

A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan had taken up a joint petition filed by lawyers Umeer Ijaz Gilani, Attaullah Hakeem Kundi, Haider Imtiaz, Raheel Ahmad and Hadiya Aziz.

During the preliminary hearing, the chief justice asked the petitioner whether he does not want the court to hear the instant case. The petitioner, however, stated that he does not think so at all. “Then why have you made the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan as respondent, which is headed by me as its chairman,” the chief justice asked him, adding, “When I am the chairman of the commission, how I can hear a case against it.” The chief justice then asked the petitioner to remove the name of the commission which has been made respondent in the petition. The petitioner sated that it was a great pleasure for him that his plea was being headed by a bench headed by the chief justice of Pakistan.

The chief justice noted that his petition pertained to the system of administration of justice. He said there was a need for reforms in the judicial system, for which parliament was the appropriate forum. He said legislation was the exclusive domain of parliament and court could not interfere into it.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing for three weeks.

The petition prays the court to direct the national judiciary policy makers to revise the national judicial policy, including a policy on delay reduction based upon scientific assessment of the present state of affairs and its causes and submit the same to the apex court for further examination.

“We – the petitioners – are personally aggrieved by the lack of enforcement of the fundamental right of access to justice and the loss of reputation of the judicial system in the eyes of the people of Pakistan due to delays in dispensation of justice,” the petition maintains. The petition requests the court to order the registrars of the high courts to make fresh rules under Article 202 of the constitution and Section 122 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for imposing costs on litigants who pursue frivolous petitions or for prosecution of perjurers, stipulate maximum time limit for different kinds of suits, petitions and appeals and regulate alternative dispute resolution in addition to discipline the lawyers who abuse the process of the court.

It asks the court to order the federal and provincial governments to submit reports on the total number of pending cases, including suits, petitions, appeals and revisions.

It says the registrars of the high courts should furnish the total number of prosecutions initiated and convictions obtained under Sections 193 to 196 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) by judges under their superintendence during the past three years.

Referring to a number of studies published by eminent social scientists including the World Justice Index, The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Survey and the one conducted by the Supreme Court itself, the petition states that the evidence highlights that the right of access to justice is being violated in the country in a systematic manner. It says that the litigants of all kinds who seek to enforce their right through courts face inordinate delays which cannot be reasonably predicted.

Citing a research conducted by the Supreme Court on a directive of former chief justice Jawwad S Khawaja, the petition contends that it takes an average of 25 years to conclude litigation in Pakistan. Similarly, another study of the subordinate courts conducted by one of the petitioners suggests that the shelf life of an average case in the civil courts of Punjab is over 37 months and from institution to the passing of decree, an average case requires around 58 hearings, it says.

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2018.