ISLAMABAD – The judiciary of Pakistan, which seems much active with theappointment of Mian Saqib Nisar as the chief justice of Pakistan, isstepping into new Judicial Year (2018-19) today with various challenges.
A ceremony, in this regard, was held in the federal capital which will beattended by CJP Nisar, Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan, members of barcouncils and others.
Addressing the ceremony, the chief justice said: “We need to set high goalin the new Judicial Year,” besides vowing to ensure rule of law andtransperancy in the country. Pakistan has distracted from the vision offounder of Pakistan.
Talking about the Supreme Court’s efforts for dams, he said that the apexcourt wanted to shift the focus of the government to build the dams. Hethanked the public for giving warm response over his call for funds.
“We have to work to plug loopholes in judicial system in order to dispensejustice,” the top judge said, adding that the apex court works for thesecurity of the basic human rights.
A major challenge for the supreme judiciary is the backlog of pending caseswhich have been recorded at 40,540 by August 15. In 2013, there were 20,480pending cases with the apex court and now the backlog has doubled.
During the tenure of Justice Nisar only, around 8,000 more cases have piledup on the top of already pending cases.
There are 9,368 civil cases are pending with the apex court at itsdifferent registries, including Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta.
When it comes to constitutional cases, around 19,374 petitions are awaitingjustice, while 2,249 jail petitions are yet to be decided by the top courtof Pakistan.
Similarly, 39 suo motu cases and 274 cases pertaining to basic human rightsare also pending with the court, the official data said.
Latest figures show the Supreme Court received 682 new cases during August1 to 15, 2018; 375 in Islamabad, 49 Karachi Registry, 181 Lahore Registry,60 Peshawar Registry and 17 cases in Quetta. During this period, the apexcourt decided 526 cases.
The outgoing judicial year observed stunning verdicts and activism by thechief justice. The CJP not only decided public interest cases but also paidvisits to hospitals for inspections.
The last year proved toughest for the politicians, especially those areassociated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The top courtdisqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017 for concealingassets, one of the landmark judgments.