Case backlog chips away at courts including HC

Lack of judges, officials blamed
A total of 18,29,165 cases have been pending with the courts across the country for a long time awaiting disposal, according to official sources.
Of them, 3,03,276 cases are pending with the High Court (HC) and Appellate Division for disposal, official sources said.
Of the remaining cases, a total of 8,07,702 cases are pending with the Districts’ Magistrates’ and Tribunal Courts across the country, and a total of 7,18,187 cases with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates’ Courts, sources added.
It was learnt that due to a dearth of officials and judges, the cases have been increasing every year.
At least 150 cases are filed with the HC every day for disposal, but the disposal rate is poor, HC sources said.
It was gleaned from the annual report of the Supreme Court of 2009 that a total of 2,93,901 cases were pending with the HC division for disposal.
“The pending cases have been increasing with every passing day,” a high official at the court told The Independent.
He also said that the pending cases have been increasing since 1991 but the officials have not been increased simultaneously for disposing the cases.
A high official at the writ section of the HC said on condition of anonymity, “every day we sign at least 150 cases, which are filed with the HC challenging the legality of various actions taken by the authorities.
While talking with The Independent, eminent lawyer Dr M Zahir said, “All of us including advocates, officers concerned and judges are bound to work at a slow pace. This is why there is a lot of pending cases with the country’s courts for disposal.” He also said that the authorities should set a timeframe for disposal of every case. “If it were followed then the cases would be disposed of quickly,” the lawyer felt.
Another prominent lawyer TH Khan told The Independent, “We know that there are a lot of cases pending with the country’s courts. What is needed is to increase the number of judges and officials at the courts upon ascertaining their quality and efficiency.”
He also said that the pending cases have been increasing due to newer problems and growing population of the country. The government should appoint more officials to the courts considering their efficiency, skill and professional ability to bring down the number of the pending cases. Or else, the pending cases would keep increasing, TH Khan observed.
Noted lawyer Dr Shahdeen Malik told this correspondent that this huge backlog of cases is not impossible to do away with in a reasonable period. The government can take two steps for resolving the backlog of cases pending with the courts.
First, it can increase the number of judges at the courts for a short or temporary period with a view to resolving the pending cases.
Second, the process of these pending cases should be updated and modernised.
“No new technique or method for management of the cases had been applied in more than half a centuries in the country,” he said adding that there are a number of countries that have introduced modern case management methods “from which we can learn easily and solve our problem quickly”.   Replying in a query Dr Shahdeen Malik said, “We can follow Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine court systems for quick disposal of the pending cases.”
Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed yesterday told this correspondent that the government have already taken preparations for alternative resolution of cases for reducing their jam in courts.
“Many countries have alternative means of resolving cases out of court. For this we have also taken the decision for implementing such a system,” he said adding, “if we were able to utilise it, then it would be easier for us to reduce the pending cases and it can be applied to both criminal and civil cases.”
“We are trying to apply the alternative settlement in all the courts of the country with a view to reducing the pending cases,” he said.
” We have already appointed 20 judges to the High Court division of the Supreme Court with a view to reducing the pending cases,” the minister said.
The minister also said the government is sincere in appointing new judges to the HC to ensure fair dispensation of justice and to reduce the backlog of cases.
 
Courtesy of The Independent