PESHAWAR, Nov 17: Recommending amendment to Article 209 of the Constitution for making the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) more effective, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Irshad Hassan Khan, said here on Saturday that the recommendations of the council should be made binding on the President.

In his address at the foundation stone laying ceremony of branch registry of the Supreme Court here, Justice Irshad Hassan Khan said that under Article 209 of the Constitution, the findings of the Supreme Judicial Council in respect of misconduct of any judge of the superior courts and/or his physical or mental incapacity, were recommendatory in nature and the action, if any, had to be taken by the President.

At present, the branch registry is situated in the premises of the high court. After construction of new structure and renovation of the compound, which in the past served as building of Radio Pakistan, the registry would be shifted there.

About pendency of the cases, Justice Khan said: “From the 1st of January till 9th November 2001, 12,391 more cases were instituted in the Supreme Court, bringing the total pendency at 23,389 cases. A total of 12,614 cases have been disposed of during the current year.”

He said that the number of disposal of cases (912,614) was greater than the original pendency (10,998) as well as the fresh institution (12,391) during the year 2001.

The chief justice stated: “In line with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in Sheikh Liaquat Hussain’s case as well as the suo motu order passed by the court on Aug 10, 2001, for regulating the trial and appeals under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, three-member benches were constituted from time to time both at the principal seat as well as the Lahore Branch Registry for hearing of these cases.”

Justice Irshad Hasan Khan informed that on Sept 5, 2001, as many as 310 anti-terrorism cases were pending before the Supreme Court, adding that up to Nov 10, 135 more anti-terrorism cases were instituted, bringing the total to 445. As a result of special emphasis on the disposal of anti-terrorism cases, the chief justice stated, 241 cases were disposed of during this period coupled with various other categories of cases. Now, there was a balance of 204 anti-terrorism cases, which had been fixed for hearing in the coming weeks, he added.

The chief justice, who will retire in January next year, said that having attained the institutional and decisional independence, the judiciary for its performance was fully accountable to the nation. Justice Khan said: “I have impressed upon the concerned quarters for securing better working conditions for the judges of the subordinate courts. At the same time I have been persuading them to work relentlessly for clearance of the backlog and banishing the curse of delay in the dispensation of justice.”

Earlier in the day, the chief justice visited the Peshawar High Court Bar and heard problems faced by the lawyers community. Barrister Zahoorul Haq lauded the role of the Supreme Court under Justice Irshad Hassan Khan, saying that they had given a timeframe for restoration of democracy for which the entire nation was grateful to the Supreme Court.

Member of Pakistan Bar Council, Qazi Mohammad Anwer requested the chief justice that as the Supreme Court branch registry would be shifted to its new compound, the chief justice should allot the present office of the registry in the high court to the NWFP Bar Council, as the council had been functioning in a rented room.

He also requested the chief justice to constitute benches for hearing appeals in the registries as the lawyers community often faced difficulties in visiting Islamabad.