One more year has passed but people in Pakistan are still deprived of inexpensive and speedy justice as the number of cases pending in courts across the country has crossed 2. 18 million mark, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday. 

Only in Supreme Court (SC), over 45, 673 cases are pending, Secretary Law and Justice Commission Dr Rahim Awan told 24NewsHD TV channel. 

He said that more than 377,380 cases were pending in the high courts while 1,88, 241 cases were pending in the Lahore High Court alone, the highest number of cases pending in any court in the country.   

Awan attributed delay in the disposal of these cases primarily to coronavirus pandemic besides dearth of judges.

Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Abid Saqi said that nobody was concerned about the issues of the common man. He said judicial reforms and changes to the rules and procedures were the only solution to delay in the settlement of cases.       

According to the Law and Justice Commission report, 18,80,733 cases were pending in the district courts across the country.  The highest number of cases are pending in Punjab’s district courts where there are 13,96,151 such cases, the report concludes.