Major judicial milestone as Supreme Court clears pending cases

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has cleared a backlog of 11 years in death penalty cases and 17 years in post-arrest bail cases.

The Supreme Court has said in a statement that the policy of disposing of old pending cases on a priority basis has been effectively implemented; life, liberty, family rights, tax, and tenancy cases are being heard on a priority basis, while better results of reforms have emerged and the average duration of pending cases has been reduced.

The court statement said that in October 2024, the Supreme Court was hearing the death penalty cases of 2015, but now the Supreme Court has cleared a backlog of 11 years in death penalty cases.

608 death penalty appeals have been decided; now the court has started hearing the cases of the current year, and only 22 appeals are pending.

According to the announcement, the Supreme Court has cleared a 6-year backlog in pre-arrest bail cases. In October 2024, pre-arrest bail cases of 2020 were under hearing, 2156 applications were decided, and now only 23 applications are pending.

The court announcement said that the Supreme Court has cleared a 17-year backlog in post-arrest bail cases. In July 2026, the hearing of the current year’s post-arrest cases is underway. 2303 applications for post-arrest bail were decided, and now only 66 are pending.

Similarly, the backlog of family cases has also been cleared in the Supreme Court, and now the current year’s cases are under hearing.

1065 family cases were decided, only 150 cases are pending, out of which 122 are from the current year.

The Supreme Court statement said that 506 tax cases were decided, and 842 cases are pending. Among the pending tax cases, cases for the years 2025 and 2026 are now being heard, while tenancy cases that were ongoing in 2011 have now reached cases for 2026.