KARACHI, June 14: Delays in approving a proposal for increasing the sanctioned strength of Sindh High Court judges from 28 to 35 is one of the factors responsible for a remarkably high number of cases awaiting final adjudication, Dawn has learnt.

However, legal experts say that the number cannot change until the current judicial standoff is resolved, since under the famous 1996 Judges Case, an acting chief justice does not have the authority to recommend names for appointment.

The sanctioned strength of SHC judges is 28, but only 22 judges are working. Officials say that within three months, this number will be reduced to 20 since two judges are due to retire.

That the issue is one of pivotal importance can be estimated from the fact that over 22,000 cases are pending in Karachi, the principal seat of the SHC, while at least 8,000 cases are pending in the Sukker, Larkana and Hyderabad circuit benches. In Sindh, the fate of over 250 men on death row hangs in the balance as their appeals are pending – some for up to eight years – in different fora.

The president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SCHBA), Abrar Hasan, said that “the number of cases in Karachi is increasing while the number of judges is decreasing.” He believes that the upper limit of 28 SHC judges should be increased to 40 since the court has vast jurisdiction. “It is an appellate court and has original jurisdiction in civil causes involving more than Rs3 million,” he said. “In addition to constitutional jurisdiction, it also has original jurisdiction in company and banking suits involving over Rs30 million.”

Mr Hasan pointed out that only four divisional benches (DBs), with two judges each, deal with constitutional petitions. “Given the swelling numbers of such cases,” said Mr Hasan, “the number of DBs must be doubled.” Furthermore, only one divisional bench deals with cases of criminal jurisdiction, while Mr Hasan believes that at least three are required for the expeditious disposal of cases. He added that a minimum of three SHC judges are required to monitor, supervise and inspect the operations of the provincial district courts, but only one judge is currently assigned to the task. Additionally, he said, the composition of a circuit bench requires at least three judges and, therefore, at least nine high court judges are required for the three SHC circuits in the interior of Sindh.

While the dearth of judges is one reason for delays in dispensing justice, other factors are also involved. Sources in the legal fraternity say that in criminal cases, delays are caused by a convoluted appeals procedure. They referred to a ‘paper book’ that must be prepared for the appellant bench’s perusal in every appeal. Prepared by the copying branch of the SHC, all documents and exhibits in Urdu or Sindhi must first be translated into an English paper book by the translation branch, which is short-staffed. These sources added that the high court benches are overworked, with only one or two benches hearing regular appeals.

The delays in judicial decisions are meanwhile leading to a piling-up of appeals and crowding in jails. Inquiries instituted by Dawn revealed that over 200 appeals by condemned convicts are pending decisions by the SHC. There are 105 condemned prisoners in the Karachi Central Prison, of whom over 85 have filed appeals pending before the SHC. Jail authorities said that death cells in the three prisons are resultantly overcrowded.

The appellants include 70 people convicted by different district and sessions courts in the province. The rest were condemned to death over the past ten years by special courts, including the former courts for Suppression of Terrorist Activities (STAs), the speedy trials courts and anti-terrorism courts. Over 55 were awarded death sentences – mainly in murder cases – in 1998 by trial courts in Sindh. These prisoners’ appeals are pending alongside appeals lodged by 39 men sentenced to capital punishment in 1995.

Approximately 80 appellants were condemned to death by the STAs, of which 28 were sentenced in Karachi, 22 in Larkana, 17 in Khairpur, three in Hyderabad and five each in Sukker and Dadu. Meanwhile, since their inception in May 1999, Karachi’s anti-terrorism courts have awarded death sentences to over 120 people accused in different cases.