22 May 2004	Saturday	02 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 21: A backlog of approximately 2.5 million cases are pending at various tiers of the judiciary throughout the country, official figures reveals.

Officials said the trend of increased litigation coupled with inadequate number of judicial officials, low salary packages in the districts and minimal budgetary allocations by the government for the judiciary further compound the problems of those seeking speedy access to justice.

The recently compiled official statistics reveal that total pendency in all courts of the country till December 2002 was 2.3 million, whereas that for the year 2003 was in process, an official said.

The data shows that only in the year 2002, 1.5 million cases were instituted. According to the officially available figures, the pendency of cases in the Supreme Court increased by 4,300 cases from 13,070 at the end of 2001 to 17,370 at the end of 2002.

The trend of pending cases over the last ten years in the Supreme Court revealed a backlog of 5,134 in 1993; 5,658 in 1994; 5,826 in 1995; 9,289 in 1996; 9,409 in 1997; 9,029 in 1998; 8,834 in 1999; 10,998 in 2000; 13,070 in 2001; and 17,370 in 2002.

The statistics revealed there were 12 cases that were instituted prior to 1990 while 1,786 cases still pending were instituted prior to the year 2000. Rest of the pending cases were all instituted after 2000.

The pending balance of criminal appeals in the Supreme Court was 32 per cent of all pending appeals whereas the balance of civil appeals was 77 per cent. The statement of court sessions at the Principal Seat of the Supreme Court at Islamabad showed that it remained in session for 44 weeks and 3 days during the 52 weeks of 2002.

The distribution of work for the same year reveals that the Branch Registry at Lahore had a working period of 24 weeks and two days, Karachi Branch Registry 14 weeks and two days, Peshawar Branch Registry 10 weeks and three days and the Quetta Branch Registry 12 weeks and 3 days.

In the Federal Shariat Court, the total pendency of cases at the end of 2002 increased from 1,404 to 1,625. In all the high courts it was found that 1.7 million cases were pending adjudication at the end of 2002.

At the end of 2002, the Lahore High Court had a backlog of 65,685 cases; Sindh High Court 87,511; Peshawar High Court 10,879; and the Balochistan High Court 3,079 cases.

In the subordinate judiciary, a total of 1.2 million cases were pending throughout the country by Dec 31, 2002. In the 35 districts of Punjab, 87,2927 cases were pending adjudication during the review period of January to December 2002.

In the 21 districts of Sindh 121,557 cases were awaiting disposal by December 2002. In the 24 districts of the NWFP 159,074 cases were pending disposal by the end of 2002.

In Balochistan 5,135 cases were pending at the end of 2002. Officials said the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC), headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, would be carrying out an annual performance review of all the courts throughout the country to improve the capacity and performance for the administration of justice.