ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of model courts functioning across the country have decided around 145,086 cases, including 12,075 murder trials and 23,072 narcotics cases, during the past one year, it emerged on Friday.

Established for swift disposal of cases, the courts awarded death sentence to 874 and life imprisonment to 2,616 criminals between April 1, 2019 and March 30, 2020.

According to a one-year performance report of the model courts presented by District and Sessions Judge Sohail Nasir, who is director general of Model Courts of Pakistan, the 442 model courts, including 173 model criminal courts, recorded testimonies of 248,441 witnesses during the year.

The courts are deciding the murder trial in 30 days. Likewise, civil matters are also being decided in a very short span of time.

According to the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP), around 1.83 million cases are pending adjudication before superior and subordinate judiciary. The total pendency of the subordinate courts is about 1.5 million, while some of the pending cases had been instituted decades ago. Litigants in these cases spent a large part of their lives pursuing a judicial decision, which according to reports may take up to 25 years before it is finally delivered by the top court.

Model courts decided over 145,000 cases

According to some legal experts, this is one reason that Pakistan is one of the lowest-performing countries regionally in South Asia in the Rule of Law Index.

Establishing model courts was the brainchild of former chief justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khan Khosa for speedy justice. Subsequently, these courts adopted zero tolerance policy for adjournments and procedures to ensure timely production of witnesses.

However, due to strict adherence to the procedures adopted to avoid unnecessary adjournments, these courts also received criticism from some lawyers, while some judges associated with these courts expressed uneasiness for conducting non-stop and day-to-day proceedings.

The performance report of the model courts pointed out that only 116 model courts had been functioning across Pakistan till April 2019, but their number and scope was expanded considering the workload. At present, there are 173 model criminal courts, 119 model civil appellate courts and 150 model magistrate courts functioning in the four provinces and in Islamabad.

According to the report, the model criminal court in a year completed 12,075 murder trials and decided 23,072 cases related to narcotics substances and recorded statements of 151,446 witnesses.

The model civil appellate courts decided 41,638 cases and model magistrate courts concluded 67,689 cases and recorded statements of 96,995 witnesses.

The report said the model magistrate courts also decided 3,733 cases related to cheque dishonour and recovered Rs1.7 billion from the defaulters. The model criminal courts imposed Rs2.6 billion fine after conviction in criminal litigation.

After speedy disposal of murder and narcotics cases, which otherwise consumed a lot of time, the ordinary courts are working with a little pendency, according to the report.

Judge Nasir has assured Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, Senior Puisne Judge Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Umar Ata Bandial that the courts would start giving speedy justice to the litigants once the deadly coronavirus is over.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2020