KARACHI, May 17: A full court meeting of the Sindh High Court discussed on Saturday short-term and long-term measures to clear the backlog of cases and expedite disposal of matters at every level.

The meeting, presided over by Chief Justice Azizullah M. Memon, decided to urgently fill up over 70 vacancies of civil judges and judicial magistrates across the province.

A provincial selection board consisting of five judges was constituted for recruitment of suitable candidates for the posts on merit. According to an SHC press release, the board consists of the senior puisne judge, Justice Munib Ahmed Khan, and Justices Qaiser Iqbal, Ali Sain Dino Metlo, Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui and Syed Pir Ali Shah.

The SHC administration committee, which is headed by the CJ and consists of Justices Munib Ahmed Khan, Yasmin Abbasy, Qaiser Iqbal, Khwaja Naveed Ahmed and Dr Khalid Ali Z. Qazi, would, meanwhile, make expeditious arrangement for the recruitment of additional district and sessions judges from among the lawyers as per their quota.

The meeting, which continued for over three hours, decided that more single and division benches would function at the high court during the forthcoming summer vacation to dispose of urgent matters promptly. Branch heads were asked to intimate the administration committee of any vacancy of shortage of staff so that recruitment was made without delay.

The meeting requested and empowered the CJ to countersign the remaining confidential reports of judicial officers.