Quarterly joint report released: 280 complaints about missing persons received last year

PESHAWAR: Twenty-six missing persons were recovered in 2018 out of 280 complaints submitted to the Human Rights Cell of the Peshawar High Court for safe recovery of those who went missing.

This was revealed in a quarterly joint report of the Peshawar High Court and District Judiciary from September to November 2018. It was unveiled by Khwaja Wajihuddin, Registrar of the Peshawar High Court on Monday.

Member Inspection Team, Muhammad Zubair, Additional Registrar Administration Muhammad Asif Khan, Legal Draftsman Ahmad Sultan Tareen, Amjad Zia Siddiqui, Tahreema Sabahat, Principal Staff Officer Muhammad Zeb and others were also present on the occasion.

In the report on the missing persons, it was stated that 280 complaints were converted into habeas corpus petitions.Though 26 persons were recovered, 78 cases of those who went missing are still pending. Another 62 cases have directly been resolved at the level of the PHC’s Human Rights Cell.

Director, Human Rights Cell, Zaeem Ahmed, said they had received 3,628 complaints in 2018 and disposed of 3,575.Khwaja Wajihuddin claimed progress in decreasing the backlog of cases both at the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and district judiciary.

In the first quarter of the performance year, he said the disposal rate of the cases had increased.He said under the Unit Policy, the disposal ratio of the Peshawar High Court cases has increased. “If this ratio continued then the backlog of cases would be zero within the next four years,” he added.

Sharing the data of institutions and disposal of cases after the implementation of the Unity Policy at the district judiciary, he said it was meant to gauge the performance of judicial officers.The registrar said in September up to 42,942 cases were instituted while 37,042 were disposed of.

He said the overall pendency in the district judiciary was reduced to 201,197. He said goal of the performance year was to reduce the pendency by 25 to 30 percent by the end of August 2019.

“The statistics of the district judiciary showed that if every judge in the district judiciary further improved his/her performance by 5 percent in the remaining nine months of the performance year, we would be able to achieve the goal set at the performance year for clearance of the 25 percent of backlog,” Khwaja Wajihuddin explained.

He said the Peshawar High Court disposed of 3,230 cases in October.He said in September up to 3,351 cases were disposed of while the total pendency of 36,436 was recorded in November 2018.

“The PHC has properly established Data Analysis Wing for adopting modern techniques to overcome the backlog of cases,” Khwaja Wajihuddin said, adding that under the vision of the PHC chief justice 25 percent pending cases should be disposed of along with the newly instituted cases.

For the first time, he said, the PHC had carried out security and accounts audit for removing the shortcomings and improve the security situation of the judiciary in the province. He said that Case Flow Management Information System (CFMIS) had been introduced in three pilot districts of Mansehra, Abbottabad and Torghar. He pointed out that this software integrates these districts with PHC and helps keep track of real time data of cases. The official said that CFMIS system would be extended to seven more districts under the pilot project. He said that video-conferencing technology had been initiated for consultation with district judiciary on key issues and for getting their feedback.

Replying to a question about extension of judiciary to erstwhile Fata, the registrar maintained that “As far as PHC is concerned, we are all ready and have completed our homework.”He said the PHC had asked the government to notify the newly merged districts as Session Divisions and sanction the required posts in order to establish Session/Civil Courts in the new tribal districts.

Khwaja Wajihuddin said the purpose of the security audit was to counter any potential threat by securing the court premises. He said that Case Management Rules for deciding civil nature cases and Courts of Small causes and minor offences would prove extremely beneficial in achieving targets of the performance year.

Talking about establishment of the Secretariat of the District Judiciary, Khalid Khan Mohmand, Director Inspection SDJ, said that a draft act has been finalised by the PHC and sent to the provincial government for approval.