"Chief Justice Isa Urges Elimination of Adjournments to Tackle Case Backlog"

Islamabad: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa has made a significant declaration aimed at reducing the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court. He firmly stated that the practice of granting adjournments in cases should be a thing of the past.

During a hearing on an agreement violation case, CJP Isa emphasized that adjournments will no longer be granted. He pointed out that there are numerous pending cases in the Supreme Court and outlined a new procedure: a notice will be issued to the parties during a single hearing, and a decision will be reached in the next hearing based on the arguments presented.

CJP Isa underscored that he is sending a clear message through this case that adjournments will not be allowed in the future. He noted that while other courts may grant time for the submission of case-related documents, the Supreme Court operates differently, with records of all cases submitted in advance.

Justice Isa, who assumed office as the Chief Justice of Pakistan on September 17, 2023, had vowed to make all-out efforts to expedite the resolution of pending cases during his tenure.

Former CJP Justice Umar Ata Bandial had attributed the increase in case backlog in the country's top court to constitutional cases.

Highlighting the Supreme Court's performance under his leadership, the former CJP revealed that the court had disposed of approximately 23,000 cases in the previous year, surpassing the record of 18,000 cases in a single year.

During the period from February 2, 2022, to February 25, 2023, the Supreme Court decided 24,303 cases while receiving 22,018 new cases, resulting in a reduction of 2,285 cases in the backlog, bringing it down from 54,735 to 52,450.

This marked the highest number of cases decided in a year since 2018 when a total of 16,961 cases were disposed of.