PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim called upon the legal fraternity to cooperate with the judiciary for the reduction in pendency of cases in courts.

Addressing oath-taking ceremony of the recently elected cabinet of Peshawar High Court Bar Association Saturday evening, the chief justice said that there were around 46,000 cases pending in the high court including 11,000 of civil nature, whereas around 4,000 new cases were being filed each month.

He said they (judiciary and lawyers) had to mitigate the sufferings and difficulties of the litigants as they were here because of them.

He requested the lawyers’ community to avoid seeking unnecessary adjournment of cases so as to reduce pendency of cases.

“Unless there is any genuine reason available, lawyers should not seek adjournment in their respective cases. This will also help in reducing problems of litigants,” Justice Ishtiaq said.

Congratulating the new cabinet, the chief justice said he had remained a member of this bar for 25 years and he was fully aware of the problems faced by the lawyers. He added that the bench and the bar were two inseparable entities and without supporting each other the issues related to them couldn’t be addressed. The chief justice assured that measures would be taken for resolving outstanding issues of different district bar associations.

He said that appointments of new additional sessions judges would be made at the earliest.

The chief justice announced that from next month the lawyers would be able to view online complete files of cases on the website of the high court.

He also assured the lawyers that the problem of car parking outside the high court would be addressed on priority basis.

The newly elected PHCBA’s President Fida Gul highlighted problems faced by the association as well as some district and tehsil bars across the province.

He said that there were scarcity of judges in the district judiciary keeping in view the number of pending cases and it was need of the hour to appoint more judges.

He suggested that special benches should be constituted in the high court for hearing specific nature of cases, which would help in reduction in pendency of cases.

Fida Gul also requested the lawyers to cooperate with the judiciary and to avoid making unnecessary requests for adjournment of cases.

The PHCBA’s vice president Asif Aman and its secretary general Alam Khan Adenzai also addressed the ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by lawyers in large number from different parts of the province.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2024