ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: The Supreme Court of Pakistan disposed of 2,923 cases against institution of 1,022 new cases during the month of December 2005. Several benches of the apex court worked at its principal seat in Islamabad and branch registries in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta to dispose of the cases.

Chief Justice Ifitkhar Muhammad Chaudhry had been working hard to resolve the problem of huge backlog, said a press release here Sunday.

The ratio between disposal and fresh institution was almost 1:3 during the last month.

Constitution of benches at Islamabad and four provincial registries coupled with the strategy of the court to prepare cause lists in advance and discourage adjournments worked well and served the purpose of accelerating disposal, the press release added.

At the principal seat in Islamabad 1967 cases were decided as compared to 337 newly registered cases.

As far the branch registries, at Lahore 990 cases were disposed of and 401 cases instituted, at Karachi 133 cases were disposed against 141 cases instituted, at Quetta 33 cases were disposed while 89 cases were registered and at Peshawar 70 cases were decided as compared to 54 new cases.

The Judges, indeed, worked hard, mostly beyond the working hours, with an aim to reduce and ultimately diminish the huge backlog, the press release said. It added: “It is also stated here that under the directive of Chief Justice, Human Rights Cell in the Supreme Court has been reactivated in July 2005.”—APP