PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Registrar Barrister Ikhtiar Khan said on Monday that despite limited resources, the PHC and the district judiciary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa worked tirelessly to end the backlog of pending cases.
Speaking at a press briefing, he said that high court judges had voluntarily reduced their holidays to address old cases.Additional Registrar (Admin) Mamrez Khan Khalil, Judicial Officer Adil Majeed, director of HR at PHC were also present.
The registrar said that in subordinate courts, out of the 25,000 targeted old cases, 8,000 were resolved thus reducing the number to 17,000.He said that the PHC also disposed of more cases than the number filed last year, ensuring the timely delivery of justice.
“Presently, over 41,000 cases are pending in the PHC and its circuit benches,” he explained, adding that the chief justice was himself monitoring and taking the steps to address these cases.
He said that despite limited resources, the PHC and the subordinate judiciary were making every effort to resolve cases efficiently.“Measures are being taken to utilise all available resources. Judicial work in some districts was affected by incidents of terrorism; however, cases were promptly transferred to other districts to ensure proceedings continued,” he added.
Barrister Ikhtiar said that judges in the subordinate courts also worked diligently, which reduced case pendency compared to the previous year despite receiving 3,000 new cases monthly.
Similarly, he said, the PHC continued to handle new cases daily. “Currently, only 13 judges are working in the high court while the sanctioned strength is 30. Despite this shortage, pendency is being addressed under the direct supervision of Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim,” the registrar said.
He said that more cases were disposed of than the filed ones during the past 10 months that showed the judiciary’s commitment to delivering justice even with meager resources.The official said the chief justice was personally supervising all efforts to reduce case pendency and clear the backlog, prioritizing the resolution of older cases.
He said that with the appointment of new judges, the backlog was expected to be ended soon.The official stressed the need for use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to settle matters efficiently.
He added that courts in Tank and Waziristan were being operationalised gradually with infrastructure and logistics being assessed.About the security of judges, the registrar also said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had agreed to enhance the security of judges of PHC by providing one bulletproof vehicle each to the circuit benches of the high court in the province.
Responding to a question, he said the provincial government had agreed to provide one bulletproof vehicle for the security of judges at all circuit benches but it had sought some time for implementation.
He said that the government had also expressed readiness to provide security to all civil judges and judicial magistrates.Additional Registrar Mamrez Khan said that 49,900 cases were filed in the district judiciary last year, while 52,300 cases were disposed of.
“A total of 261,000 cases were pending from the previous year. With the appointment of 22 new additional judges, this backlog would be addressed soon,” he said.Adding that 12 additional session judges and 112 civil judges would be appointed by coming June, which would help reduce the backlog,” he added.Last year, he said the district judiciary handled 276,000 cases, which had now been reduced to 262,000, as more than 14,000 cases were disposed of.
