Urgent Need for Judicial Reforms in Pakistan
well-functioning judiciary is the crucial component of any country that not only enhances its prosperity but also referred to as the backbone of any state. When it comes to the rule of law, the Judiciary plays a crucial role and, of course, without the rule of law, a state cannot exist or function properly. As a citizen of Pakistan, I have witnessed many loopholes in my country’s legal system. In reality, Pakistan’s legal system considered to have three categories: one for the poor and the weak; another, for the non-ruling rich; and a third for the ruling elite. Offenders of the very same crime are treated differently. One gets away with his crime, while the others are sentenced to prison. The rich enjoy power, whereas the poor continually suffer. I believe that the system should be changed. Our courts need reforms. Cases should be heard on merit and should not be decided on the basis of monetary and status value. There must be proper planning of these measures. Legal proceedings cannot be conducted smoothly without proper planning and complete procedural fairness.
I strongly believe that our Judicial System must be reformed because there is a need to ameliorate the old systems and replace them with a modern, efficient, economical, and speedy justice system. The reforms should start with pilot projects for the purpose to make the most out of them. There are many reasons for urgent judicial reforms in Pakistan, but the most pressing issue is that of the long pendency of cases that have not been resolved. According to the Law and Justice Commission in Pakistan, there are fifty thousand cases pending in the Supreme Court, three lakh in the five High Courts, and around twenty lakh in the subordinate courts, and to handle such a huge number of cases, there are only 3,000 judges from the Supreme Court to the Civil Court. According to the World Bank 2018, it takes about 1070 days to settle a commercial case. As compared to other countries such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Morocco, Indonesia, the procedures of the courts in Pakistan are complex, lengthy, and expensive.
Justice delayed means justice denied
First and foremost, there is a need for a claim form because Pakistani courts are still following outdated procedures and methods. Applications on simple paper are used in the courts instead of much more modern methods effectively used in other countries. At present, when a lawyers submits an application, it first goes to the registration center, then to the senior civil judge, and finally to a civil judge. Instead of this lengthy process, I believe our courts must adopt or develop an e-system, as well as a centralized system to run efficiently. This is the time that judicial reforms must be implemented to provide a smooth and functioning legal system.
Secondly, there should be a proper schedule, when there is a first hearing in court, the judge must disclose all the dates for the cases to avoid unnecessary delays. If one party wants to extend the time of his/her case, they would pay the cost of delaying and negatively affecting the court’s time and the other party’s lawyer expenses as well. There should be a specific time frame for the settlement of cases. Anyone who seeks to unnecessarily postpone a trial should be penalized with a certain amount of financial cost. This will save the courts valuable time as well and it will prevent people delaying their cases for unreasonable excuses. The courts have have the authority to impose costs under Section 35 and 35A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but unfortunately these powers are not being utilized. This process will expedite the system and maximize the effective litigation. Otherwise, the current process will continue to consume plenty of time to resolve disputes, and will continue to oppress the poor directly or indirectly. As a result, we are seriously undermining the rule of law by delaying justice.
Third, there is a lack of citizen assistance committees in Pakistan. For ensuring the provision of legal aid to the poor litigants who cannot afford hefty fees of lawyers, there should be a free judicial assistance service which operates under the supervision of advocates (legal experts). As we know, we, as a society, are mainly comprised of middle-class and lower-middle-class people. Everyone has a right to file a case for the sake of attaining justice and institutions like the Judiciary should not turn them away for financial reasons. People must be treated with respect, and if they have a valid case, they should be assisted in legal matters.
Every year, judges should receive training in which they should learn new laws and how to interpret them. There should be a very strict way of selecting judges. The current statistics confirms that there are more cases filed than cases that are disposed every month and even in this critical situation, there is a lack of proper planning. We do not have enough appointed judges in the courts to quickly resolve cases which are pending. I believe that there should be separate courts for small cases such as Juvenile Courts, where decisions can be made within one week. Because it often happens even in small cases which do matter, they tend to take too long to be decided. There will be no pending cases as a result of this process, and the vast majority of cases will be resolved. An example of this can be seen in the United Kingdom magistrate courts, where 95% of the cases are resolved. It is important to note that speedy justice will only be available to everyone when there will be specific courts for specific cases and appointment of judges on the basis of their specific fields. For example, criminal cases will proceed in criminal courts where the judges of criminal court must specialize in criminal law.
In Sindh, consumer courts have established, but unfortunately, the judges appointed to the consumer courts are not paying heed to the proceeding consumer cases but are interested in civil cases. As a result, 99 cases are currently pending in Sindh Consumer Courts.
Finally, when it comes to judicial reforms, the response of the Pakistani government towards the judicial reforms has always been reluctant. We need to recognize that to ensure fairness and justice in judicial matters these factors must be taken into consideration by the government of Pakistan. Many people are deprived of justice here and many have lost faith in the justice system, the slow and unfair processes of justice have ruined the lives of countless innocent people. A speedy justice system will not only provide this country’s youth hope and inspiration to work for the country’s progress but also create an effective legal structure for the people.
The writer is a 1st-year law student at ZFL.
Published in ZU-BLAWGS, September 10, 2021