ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa has assured the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) that he will develop a comprehensive policy to address the fixation of pending cases and the formation of benches, and this policy will remain in place even after his retirement.
Following a meeting between CJP Isa, Senior Puisne Judge Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and representatives of the PBC and SCBA, PBC’s Executive Committee Chairman Hassan Raza Pasha and Vice-Chairman Haroon-ur-Rashid shared this development with the media.
A committee comprising top court judges, PBC representatives, and SCBA will address the issue, and it will convene a meeting soon to work on implementing a new mechanism for listing cases.
Pasha stated that CJP Isa had assured both lawyer bodies that he would provide updates on implementing their suggestions even after his retirement. He noted that many of the suggestions put forward by PBC and SCBA were similar, with a 70% to 89% overlap. Pasha emphasized that the bar councils have united to achieve the pursuit of justice.
The meeting focused on addressing problems within the Supreme Court and did not discuss elections or political cases. The PBC representatives had submitted their suggestions to the Chief Justice beforehand, highlighting the issues faced by the public, including the non-listing of urgent cases for hearings.
CJP Isa’s tenure as Chief Justice of Pakistan began recently, and he will retire from this position on October 25, 2024. Despite being the senior puisne judge, he was not assigned any constitutional cases for the past three years due to a presidential reference filed against him in 2019.
