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LAHORE, July 22: The Supreme Court’s backlog of pending cases has risen to about 30,000 of which some 10,000 appeals are lying with the apex court’s Lahore branch registry. Most of the appeals being sent to the principal seat in Islamabad are routed from Lahore. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has decided to step up the disposal of the cases by making various benches to function during summer vacation.
According to a press release, the chief justice of Pakistan told a meeting of advocates-on-record that the SC benches in Lahore would continue to work here as judges were prepared to forgo their summer vacation for quick disposal of cases.
The chief justice instructed the AORs to prepare cases for hearing by themselves so that chances of frivolous litigation were brought down substantially. The CJ warned that action might be taken against the AORs failing to stop frivolous litigation which, he remarked, brought a bad name to the legal profession as well as the Supreme Court.
The chief justice also directed the Lahore registry’s assistant registrar to make arrangements for the cause list to be available on the apex court’s website in Islamabad as well as in Lahore for the convenience of lawyers and AORs. This direction was issued on the proposal mooted by AORs at the meeting.
DISPOSAL: Meanwhile, the Supreme Court disposed of 229 cases during its sitting in Lahore during the week commencing from July 18. Three benches worked during the first three days and two on Thursday and Friday. As many as 41 cases were disposed of by the two benches on Friday.
An apex court bench, comprising Justice Falaksher and Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday, will work during the week commencing on July 25.
AD&SJ: A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Friday granted leave to appeal in a petition, which raised a proposition that a public servant could not be exonerated from corruption charges on the grounds that his act was in his personal capacity.
Comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Syed Tasaddaq Husain Jillani, the bench decided to examine if the Lahore High Court had rightly exercised its jurisdiction in upholding the decision of the special judge of anti-corruption that a corruption case against Additional District and Sessions Judge Javed Rasheed Mahboobi could not be established because he had not used his official authority in allegedly receiving illegal gratification. The case will now come up for hearing by the apex court bench in the first week of October. The leave to appeal was moved by Chaudhry Khan Bahadur, the secretary of the Awaisia Housing Society, Township, with the contention that the AD&SJ received around Rs470,000 as legal advisor and member of NGO Darul Irfan for managing to secure a grant for the organization out of his influence as a judicial officer.
As the needful was not done, Khan Bahadur moved the special judge of anti-corruption seeking a case of corruption registered against the AD&SJ and that he should be proceeded against under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The special court dismissed the petition on the grounds that Mahboobi’s act was personal and he could not be proceeded against for abusing his office.
The petitioner moved the LHC in an appeal, which also upheld the special court’s decision and declined to exercise its jurisdiction to issue directions to the agency concerned to register a case.
CANCELLATION OF BAIL: Meanwhile, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, on Friday served notices on the Punjab advocate-general and a murder accused in a leave to appeal for the cancellation of the bail of the accused granted by the LHC.
Appellant Shabbir Ahmad of Lalamusa, also the complainant in the FIR for the murder of his nephew Irfan Ahmad, a taxi driver, submitted that three persons, including Babar and Sultan Hameed, hired the taxi of his nephew on Feb 17 last year. Later, he said, the body of his nephew was found near the farms of another village.
The three were arrested after an FIR was registered against them. One of the accused, Babar Ali, approached the Gujrat sessions court for bail on the plea that he was a juvenile offender. The court allowed him to be released on bail.
Sultan also made a similar plea for bail, but the sessions court rejected his petition after which he challenged the decision in the high court. The court accepted the bail application saying the police had not recovered the murder weapon and also did not arrange an identification parade.
Shabbir Ahmad in his leave to appeal, moved through Advocate M.D. Tahir, assailed the LHC decision on the plea that an identification parade was not required under the law when the accused had already been identified.
