LAHORE :Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Aalia Neelum has taken a historic step by deciding to make the performance of subordinate judiciary public for the first time.
On the instructions of the chief justice, special software has been developed through which the daily performance of judges in Punjab will be available to the public at just one click. This move will also speed up the accountability process for judges who fail to perform their duties.
Through the initiatives of the chief justice not only is timely delivery of justice being ensured, but historic reforms are also being introduced at the administrative level. For the first time in history, the daily performance of judges of Punjab’s subordinate judiciary will be made public, enabling any citizen to view the performance of judges from any district of Punjab on a website with a single click.
The Additional Registrar (IT), along with his team, gave a briefing to Chief Justice Aalia Neelum on the newly developed software. The Additional Registrar explained that the system will provide complete information, including how many cases are filed daily in any district of Punjab, how many cases are disposed of, and how many remain pending—all accessible with one click.
Chief Justice Aalia Neelum appreciated the performance of the IT team and stated that the public has the right to know what judges are doing. She added that this software will make it easier to hold non-performing judges accountable. She also directed that the software be linked to the Lahore High Court’s official website.
It may be recalled that the chief justice has initiated a formal process to fill all 60 approved judges positions in the court, including 18 currently vacant seats, to improve working of the court.
The court has an approved strength of 60 judges, however, this number has never been fully achieved in the past. The chief justice has suggested that all sanctioned positions should be filled to address the growing backlog of cases and reduce the workload on serving judges.