A number of Pakistan’s internal flaws are also drawing more notice now that the country’s judicial system is a frequent topic of the headlines. This could serve as a catalyst for the resolution of some long-standing difficulties, thus it
should be viewed as a positive development.
In the midst of an increasing backlog of unresolved cases that are clogging up the legal system—the number of cases has now exceeded 2.2 million—the Supreme Court, for instance, has expressed new concerns about pointless, vexatious, and reckless legislation. During a hearing on a property dispute, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah stated, “Such litigation must be rooted out and strongly discouraged.” He suggested placing financial penalties on litigants who squander the court’s time before dismissing the lawsuit. This might be a good start in a nation where the law is frequently used to prolong rather than resolve problems if it is broadly applied as suggested.
The implementation of fines may seem like the only way to quickly “root out” instances that could be frivolous, vexatious, or speculative, but sadly, there is currently no way to do so. for this reason it could appear that the only option is to implement fines. But, given current technological advancements, it might be able to create AI-based tools that can assist in identifying troublesome instances based on their background. Several technical developments, such as e-courts and the digitization of court proceedings and records, have been embraced by the judiciary in recent years with the purpose of lowering the backlog of cases. This is worth mentioning.
More swiftly than anticipated, the backlog might be cleared by combining stronger sanctions for filing pointless claims with creative, tech-assisted approaches. As this is going on, the higher judiciary ought to think about holding internal training sessions to assist judges in recognizing circumstances in which parties may not be acting in good faith and to promote the uniform and widespread application of sanctions. In this context, a set of guidelines could be beneficial.
According to the proverb, justice postponed is justice denied. However, common people entangled in legal proceedings not only lose out on prompt justice but are also subjected to a great deal of emotional and financial strain during the litigation process. For this reason, in order to restore the public’s declining trust in the legal system, a comprehensive and coordinated approach to lowering the case backlog is required. Because investors cannot make business decisions in settings where disputes may not be resolved for years, reconfiguring the system to administer justice in more efficient ways will also benefit the economy.
