CJP Afridi chairs maiden full court meeting to address pendency of cases

Justice Yahya Afridi has chaired a maiden full court meeting since becoming the chief justice of Pakistan, to assess the performance of the Supreme Court in the institution and the disposal of cases.

The full court meeting was attended by all Supreme Court judges, including senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah — who joined through video link as he is currently in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.

According to a statement issued by the Supreme Court, the meeting was convened to assess the performance of the Supreme Court in the institution and disposal of cases, focusing on measures to reduce case backlog and enhance judicial efficiency.

During the meeting, the SC registrar provided an overview of the current caseload and outlined the steps toward timely decision of cases.

She presented updated statistics, indicating that 59,191 cases were currently pending and introduced a newly devised one-month plan based on Case Management Plan 2023 prepared by Justice Shah.

“The plan includes setting clear standards, employing information technology to effectively manage all categories of cases,” said the statement.

Reviewing the Case Management Plan, the judges discussed a range of strategies to achieve the targets.

“Criminal and civil cases, as detailed in the monthly plan, were allocated to specialized two- and three- member benches to ensure swift and speedy case resolution,” it added.

The statement further said that the judges contributed valuable insights and recommendations for further system improvement, underscoring their commitment to addressing case backlog.

Meanwhile, Justice Shah also offered additional suggestions aimed at reducing the case backlog and improving procedural efficiency initially for one month and followed by three-month and six-month plans.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the chief justice thanked all the judges for their resolve to implement the Case Management Plan in full, with a commitment to achieve the outlined targets.

The progress will be reviewed in the next session of the Full Court meeting scheduled for December 2, 2024, it concluded.

CJP Afridi was sworn in as Pakistan's 30th chief justice on Oct 26, succeeding Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

The top judge is the first to be appointed by a parliamentary committee comprising both government and opposition members constituted under the new 26th Constitutional Amendment passed last week.

On the first day of his appointment, the chief justice reconstituted the SC Practice and Procedure Committee, bringing back Justice Munib Akhtar to the three-member key panel established to fix cases and form benches.