Shortage of judges hits Peshawar hard with 36,648 pending cases

PESHAWAR: At least 242,718 civil and criminal cases are pending in the lower courts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Peshawar tops the pendency list with 36,648 cases in the 47 courts of Civil and Session Judges. Each judge has a heavy burden of more than 780 cases of civil and criminal nature. Nowshera district has the second-highest number of pending cases with each judge have 758 cases.

The burden on the judges of District Kohistan Lower and Torghar is relatively less and each judge has 39 and 47 cases pending respectively. In proportion to the total number of judges and cases in the province, each judge has an average of 516 cases.

The judiciary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 596 posts of judges but 470 are working while 126 posts are vacant. The Peshawar High Court has 20 judges but 14 are working and six are vacant.

The number of District and Sessions Judges and Senior Civil Judges is full and there is no shortage of 35 and 64 judges respectively. Similarly, the posts of 29 Additional District and Sessions Judges are vacant. Out of a total of 159, only 130 judges are working. However, there are 97 vacancies for civil judges, judicial magistrates and family judges. As many as 224 judges are working on 338 posts.

Bahlol Khattak, President of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, acknowledged that there was a heavy case burden on the lower courts and that the number of judges needed to be increased immediately. He said that a maximum of 150 cases is enough for each judge to decide them in a timely and speedy manner. It is very difficult to decide seven or eight hundred cases. Judges will have to discourage adjournment for speedy decisions of cases as well as dismiss frivolous cases.

“At least six vacancies of PHC are vacant; similarly, more than 100 vacancies of the lower judiciary should be filled soon. Reducing the burden on judges will enable speedy justice. Judges also suffer from stress due to the burden of cases,” Bahlol Khattak said.

Official data revealed that 506 courts of Civil, Additional, and Session Judges are functional in the 35 districts of the province. Around 86,756 criminal and 15,5963 civil nature cases are pending in lower courts. District Peshawar has 47 courts of Civil and Session Judges while 36,648 cases are pending in these courts. Nowshera has 19 courts, 14,407 cases, Charsadda 20 courts, 11,047 cases, and District Mardan 35 courts and 24,402 cases.

Similarly, in Swabi’s 13092 cases, 24 judges, Malakand 3,397 cases, 11 judges, Swat 14,016 cases, 34 courts, and Shangla 1,728 cases eight judges are working. There are 17 courts in Lower Dir and 11 in Upper Dir but 5,235 and 3,843 cases are pending in these courts. There are 12 courts and 3,436 cases in the Buner district while eight courts and 2,669 cases are pending in Chitral.

DI Khan has 26 judges and 16,445 cases, Tank eight judges, 1,822 cases, Bannu, 22, and 8231, Lakki 12, judges, 6,344 cases, Kohat 20 judges, 9,771 cases, Hangu seven judges, 1,895 cases, Karak 14 judges, 7,900 cases, Haripur 25 judges, 13,248 cases, and Abbottabad 28 judges while 17,873 cases are pending.

District Mansehra has 14,026 cases, 26 courts, Batagram, 1,071 cases, nine judges, Kohistan Upper 310 cases, nine judges, Torghar 237 cases, and five judges to deal with these cases. Kohistan Lower has only three judges and 117 cases, Koli Pallas Kohistan two judges and 100 cases, and District Bajaur seven judges and 1,592 cases pending.

District Khyber eight judges,3,057 cases, Mohmand six judges,961 cases, Orakzai seven judges,389 cases, Khurram six judges, 1,484 cases, North Waziristan five judges, 777 cases, South Waziristan six judges, 462 cases, and Chitral Upper have five judges and 687 cases pending in different courts.