LAHORE, Nov 2: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial has taken strong notice of increasing backlog of cases in the district judiciary and directed all sessions judges/senior civil judges in Punjab to adopt immediate measures to clear the backlog of old cases.

In a directive issued here on Friday, the chief justice noted that the district judiciary in spite of vigorous application and implementation of National Judicial Policy 2009, the number of cases in courts was continuously increasing.

The chief justice termed this factor a healthy sign that the people in the province reposed faith and trust in the court system, therefore, it was need of the hour to clear the backlog of old cases on a priority basis. District and sessions judges and senior civil judges had been directed to provide all courts working under their control “red colour” file covers for the number of oldest category cases pending in each court.

These red colour files should be distinguishable from other category of cases and should be given preference for disposal over all other cases.

All courts seized of the oldest category case had been directed to decide these cases by taking these on fast-track and hearing on a day-to-day basis.

The directive further said that courts might also keep the cases of some other categories such as senior citizens (person above the age of 65 years), widows, juveniles, in red file covers in order to facilitate deserving categories of litigants.