Chief justice urges parliament to act to ensure dispensation of justice

Published April 13, 2019
Justice Khosa says providing justice is not only the judiciary's job, the state has to do its part. — DawnNewsTV
Justice Khosa says providing justice is not only the judiciary's job, the state has to do its part. — DawnNewsTV

Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on Saturday regretted that parliament seems to be dragging its feet in acting swiftly to address imbalances and deficiencies in the judiciary, explaining that the provision of justice is a shared responsibility.

"It is unfortunate that parliament has not been paying attention to legislative matters. Up till now, we have already sent 70 reports to parliament and the law ministry. Provision of justice is not just the judiciary's job — the legislature has to do its part," he said while addressing a gathering in Islamabad.

Furnishing an example, the chief justice said: "The Anti-terrorism Act (ATA) can be applied to anything under the sun. From theft to rape, the law can be applied to any crime in the country. The Supreme Court created a seven-judge bench to review the ATA and a judgement has been reserved on the matter, so I will not say more — but clarifying the ATA should have been the parliament's job."

"It is the state's responsibility to provide cheap and swift justice to the people. Various experiments have been done in the past to lessen the span of time taken to rule on cases. Sometimes laws were amended and at other times it was suggested that we 'do more'.

"We can't tell judges to do more, the amount of work our judges are doing here, no one is doing anywhere in the world. A total of 3,000 judges are appointed in the country. Last year 34m cases were wrapped up by our courts — what more can the judges do?"

The chief justice at one point remarked that since the day he became a judge, his mission has been to wrap cases up swiftly. "People at the bar council used to call me and my friends the 'junoon group' [the impassioned]," he recalled.

"The US Supreme Court wraps 80 to 90 cases every year. The Supreme Court in the United Kingdom wraps up 100 cases each year. The Supreme Court of Pakistan wrapped up 26,000 cases last year," he pointed out, stressing the fact that the judiciary in Pakistan is overburdened.

Providing a solution to the matter, the chief justice said: "The way [to fix this] is to fix the causes of delay in judgements. The parliament should look over laws to see how judicial review can be made better than before.

"Why are inheritance claims made on the basis of police reports?" he asked. "If Nadra were to compile family trees, people would be able to get claim certificates on the push of a button, eliminating millions of man-hours of court work. The role of police in civil cases is inexplicable. This was brought to the government's notice though the attorney general. The parliament needs to take a look at the laws created by it."

"I salute the judges that provide swift justice to the people," the chief justice said in conclusion to his address.

Justice Khosa has forcefully advocated for fixing the weaknesses in Pakistan's judiciary. In March, Justice Khosa had said that if judges are appointed to 25 per cent of the vacant positions in the system, the backlog of pending cases in court could be wrapped up within a year or two.

"There are only 3,000 judges to cater to a population of 221 to 222 million people," Justice Khosa had regretted, noting that they could not possibly clear out the backlog of 1.9m cases jamming the system.

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.