KARACHI Jan 16 The chief justice and other judges of the Sindh High Court informed Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry that an acute shortage of judges was causing great hardship in disposing of a huge backlog of cases and ensuring quick and speedy justice.

The CJP held a meeting with the judges on Friday evening to discuss information and ideas about improving the output and efficiency of the high court and lower courts, according to a Supreme Court press release issued on Saturday.

“During the meeting, the CJP emphasised the need for providing speedy and appropriate justice to the people in order to come up to the expectations of the people of Pakistan who have attached great hope to the present superior judiciary,” it said.

The CJP also stressed the need for tackling the backlog of cases on a war-footing. He called for disposing of cases related to violation of fundamental rights, bail matters, family issues, juvenile offences, rent matters, drug and terrorism on a fast track basis. He also expected that the high court judges should not only dispose of the backlog and devise a mechanism to avoid an unnecessary delay in the court proceedings, but should also visit various prisons in the province to alleviate the inmates' sufferings.

The chief justice of the Sindh High Court informed him that at present only 18 judges were available at the SHC against the sanctioned strength of 40. “This is causing immense problems in providing quick justice to the people,” he maintained.

Accepting the assertion, the CJP held out the assurance that all necessary measures would be taken in this regard.

He thanked the SHC chief justice and other judges for attending the meeting on short notice and appreciated the provincial judiciary's efforts towards executing the National Judicial Policy 2009. He called for putting in extra efforts to achieve the goals envisaged in the policy.

Meanwhile, the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Qazi Anwar, said the legal fraternity would foil all attempts against the independence of the judiciary.

Addressing a joint press conference with the office-bearers of the Sindh High Court Bar Association and the Karachi Bar Association, he said that conspiracies were being hatched to defame the superior judiciary of the country.

The SHCBA general secretary, Rasheed A. Razvi, said the lawyers still had the same unity and spirit that they had on March 9, 2007.

He said that the judges should not acquire additional plots from the government. He urged the judges to surrender additional plots given to them by the federal government in Islamabad.

He said that the legal fraternity was united in foiling any attempt to derail the democratic process in the country.