THE media continues to highlight the need for judicial reforms to expedite justice for the common man. The Chief Justice of Pakistan held a meeting recently with the Senate chairman in this regard. Whenever I think of this matter, I am reminded of a saying that my grandfather was fond of: “charity begins at home”.
The question begging an answer is, have our judges and lawyers made any worthwhile contributions to making our justice system accessible to the man in the street? If so why is Pakistan’s ranking in the Word Justice Index -106th out of the 113 countries studied.
The Supreme Court’s own research shows that the average shelf-life of a moderately complicated civil dispute is over 25 years.
The average number of hearings it takes to conclude a civil trial in Punjab is 58.
Articles 202 and 203 of the Constitution empower the high courts to make procedural laws to control the functioning of courts subordinate to them.
When and how quickly can the people expect a positive change?
D. J. Ali
Islamabad
Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2018
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