CJP Yahya Afridi chairs full court session with all judges in attendance

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi chaired a full court meeting on Oct 28 (today), which was attended by all apex court judges including Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah — who joined through a video link as he is currently in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.

As per SC the statement — a copy of which is available with Daily Ausaf — the meeting was convened to assess the performance of the Supreme Court in the institution and disposal of cases with a special focus on measures to reduce case backlog and enhance judicial efficiency.

During the meeting, the Registrar provided an overview of the current caseload and outlined the steps toward timely decision of cases.

“She told SC judges that 59,191 cases are currently pending, and introduced a newly devised one-month plan based on Case Management Plan 2023 prepared by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah,” it added.

“The plan includes setting clear standards and employing information technology to effectively manage all categories of cases.”

Reviewing the Case Management Plan, the Hon’ble judges discussed a range of strategies to achieve the plan’s targets. Criminal and civil cases, as detailed in the monthly plan, were allocated to specialized two and three-member benches to ensure swift and speedy case resolution, the press release read.

Judges, further, contributed valuable insights and recommendations for further system improvement, underscoring their commitment to addressing case backlog.

Senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, participating via video link, offered additional suggestions aimed at reducing the case backlog and improving procedural efficiency initially for one month and followed by three- three-month and six-month plans.

Chief Justice Afridi thanked all the Judges for their resolve to implement the Case Management Plan in full, with a commitment to achieve the outlined targets. While concluding the meeting, CJP announced that the progress will be reviewed in the next session of the Full Court meeting scheduled for December 2, 2024.