CJP Khosa seeks appointment of judges for clearing backlog

ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan, Asif Saeed Khosa remarked on Friday that the backlog of pending cases can be wrapped up within a year or two if judges are appointed to 25 per cent of the vacant positions.

During the proceedings of a civil case at the apex court, the top judge drew a comparison of Pakistan's supreme court with that of US.

"The Supreme Court wrapped up a total of 26,000 cases last year, while the US Supreme Court managed to conclude 80 to 90 cases," the chief justice observed.

Asif Saeed Khosa, who took the charge in January, remarked that there were only 3,000 judges to cater to a population of 221 to 222 million people adding that last year, the justice system wrapped up 3.1 million cases.

The chief justice said that 1.9 million cases were still pending with the justice system and that even with a shortage of judges, people in the system are trying to wrap up as many cases as they can.

According to the latest data of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP), the apex court disposed of 1,362 cases between january 1st to 15th.

The cases awaiting decisions in the five high courts and district judiciary of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and Islamabad are 1,819,512.