Penalty on frivolous suits: Supreme Court decides to expedite disposal of cases

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISLAMABAD (August 04 2009): A 'full court' meeting held at the Supreme Court on Monday decided that adjournment of cases will be strictly discouraged to provide speedy justice. However, adjournments will only be granted in extraordinary situations with very pressing reasons.

The full court meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry discussed various issues and it was unanimously resolved that disposal rate should be enhanced by discouraging adjournments.

During the period from 2005 to 2007, there was an expeditious disposal and to achieve such an objective all energies should be put together. It was also decided that the policy of imposing cost be devised so as to discourage the culture of frivolous and false cases, and penalty be imposed against persons lodging such cases though such policy adjournments would also be discouraged.

The full court was attended by judges of the Supreme Court including Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali.

The meeting decided that categorisation of cases as per subject matter, both in the criminal and the civil matters, be carried out and certain categories will be given priority. Special benches would be constituted for hearing of categorised cases continuously for some weeks.

During the meeting formation of committees to monitor the functioning of Anti-Terrorist Courts in the light of Sheikh Liaquat Hussain's case was also discussed and four judges of the apex court were nominated in this regard. Those who were nominated for each province included Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan.

It was decided that the High Courts will also be requested to constitute committees for quick disposal of anti-terrorism cases by Special Courts and appeals in the High Courts. The Chief Justice of Pakistan will directly supervise the Committees formed at the Supreme Court and at the High Court level.

To improve disposal, it was unanimously resolved that vacations be reduced, and judges would work hard to maximise disposal of cases. It was also decided that to become a role model for High Courts and other courts, the Supreme Court has to improve quality and quantity of its work to improve the overall image of the system of administration of justice.

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