ISLAMABAD:Minister of State for Law and Justice, Senator Shahadat Awan on Thursday said there were some 380,436 cases pending in various courts across the country that demanded a constitutional amendment in the law for appointment of judges to fill vacant positions in the courts.
Speaking during the question hour session, the Minister of State briefed the lower house of the parliament that the judges’ vacancies in the Supreme Court and High Courts of all the provinces were lying vacant that was impeding the swift delivery of justice to the masses.
Awan said there were 51,744 cases pending till December 31, 2022 in the Supreme Court whereas the sanctioned strength of the judges was 17 and only 14 were dispensing their duties and three positions were lying vacant.
In the Lahore High Court, 179,425 cases were pending during the aforementioned period, and the total strength of judges was 60 out of which 41 were serving on their duties and 11 positions were vacant, he said.
The Minister of State added that the Sindh High Court had 85,781 cases pending till December 31, 2022, whereas the approved strength of judges was 40, out of which 11 positions were lying vacant. In Peshawar High Court, 41,911 cases were pending and one seat of the judge was lying vacant whereas in Balochistan 4,771 cases were pending till the above said period.
In the Islamabad High Court, there were 17,104 cases were pending whereas two positions of the judges were vacant, the Minister informed.
Senator Awan maintained that instead of increasing the strength of judges in the court, the vacant positions should be filled to end the huge pendency of cases.
The Minister underlined that a parliamentary committee was formed to address the issues pertaining to pending cases and other issues related to court. He said the Parliament has started focusing on this issue and it would help resolve public problems and redress their grievances.
Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf expressed his concerns over the large number of cases pending in the courts across the country.
He queried the Minister about the actions taken so far to appoint judges to vacant positions. Raja also asked the Minister that the Law Ministry should write a letter to the apex court judges to draw their attention to this pertinent issue.
The Minister of State for Law apprised the House that as per the constitution, it was the judicial commission that recommends nominees of judges for appointment in the court which was approved by the parliamentary committee comprising the Minister for Law, parliamentarians, bar council members, and others.
However, the Law Ministry only issues the notification hence having a parochial role in this matter, he added.
Senator Awan also condemned the remarks of MNA Moulana Akbar Ali Chitrali for calling advocates liars whereas the Speaker expunged his remarks while cautioning to be careful in using words for any individual.
MNA Muhammad Abubakar in his supplementary question demanded the House to take a stand for judicial reformation that would help address a large number of cases pendency, insufficient strength of judges in courts and slow service delivery.
He suggested that like European countries the courts could be proposed to work also in the evening time to end pending cases whereas a bill should be tabled in the House in this regard.
The Speaker also welcomed a group of children from different schools representing various minorities of the country.