Disposing of a plea in a land dispute case, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday slapped on the petitioner Rs1 million in fine for wasting the court’s time by filing baseless petitions, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa, heard the petition.

Expressing his indignation on deliberately prolonging cases, the chief justice regretted that this had become a norm now. “The case under review was prolonged for 14 years,” he said, and added, “The entire judicial system is in tatters.”

He, however, expressed the resolve to slowly resurrect the system.

The CJP said what an irony that the petitioner in the case kept occupying the property for a long period of time, and in order to divert the court’s attention, filed baseless applications.  

He remarked that by doing so, people were kept deprived of their basic rights.

Javed Hameed, the petitioner, had challenged in the apex court the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict.

Reporter: Amanat Gishkori