PESHAWAR
Legal and constitutional experts here Thursday underscored the need for an establishment of a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) imperative to expedite the resolution of constitutional cases and address the growing backlog in higher courts.
Member PHC Bar Association and senior lawyer, Syed Noman Bukhari said that a significant increase in cases backlog has been witnessed in Supreme Court and High Courts of all four provinces in recent years due to lack of judges and high caseload especially of constitutional and civil petitions.
Noman Bukhari advocate told APP that the creation of the FCC would not only reduce the heavy burden on the Supreme Court and High Courts but also facilitate quicker resolutions in a range of civil and criminal cases, particularly those related to property, land, and services.
The senior lawyer while referring to a report said that as of December 31, 2023, there were 55,971 cases pending in the Supreme Court, reflecting an 18% increase from the previous year. Over the past decade, the number of pending cases has more than doubled, escalating from approximately 20,000 in 2013 to nearly 56,000 today. This huge backlog, Bukhari noted, wasted both time and resources, leading to frustration among thousands of litigants whose cases linger unresolved for years.
“Constitutional petitions often take precedence and consumes less amount of time than other cases” Bukhari explained. “The average duration for civil cases can extend up to 25 years before a verdict is reached, raising serious questions about accountability for the prolonged suffering of litigants.”
He said that constitutional cases, which represented only about 15% of all cases, disproportionately occupy around 80% of the courts time. This imbalance, Bukhari argued, underscored the urgent need for a dedicated constitutional court that can handle these specific cases efficiently.
Malik Ashfaq Khan, another constitutional lawyer and Nowshera district bar member, emphasized that the implementation of an FCC would align Pakistan with 77 other countries that have successfully established similar institutions, including France, Germany and Turkiye.
He pointed out that a dedicated court would minimize the risk of arbitrary constitutional interpretations and bring consistency to legal decisions.
Elaborating on the advantages of the FCC, Ashfaq advocate said, “by centralizing constitutional adjudication, we can eliminate confusion arising from conflicting interpretations and ensured that cases are handled by judges from all provinces for speedy justice.
He said this positive intative would strengthen our federation and provide a more equitable judicial process to all.
The experts also highlighted the importance of ensuring that the judges appointed to the FCC are selected strictly on merit, advocating for the inclusion of Islamic scholars to provide diverse perspectives in line with Pakistan’s Islamic constitutional framework.
They argued that the complexities of constitutional law necessitated expertise in Islamic law beyond just conventional lawyers and judges.
“The constitution is a serious subject and should not be entrusted solely to constitutional experts judges ,” Bukhari remarked. “Incorporating Islamic scholars with constitutional law background would enrich the court’s deliberations and align them with the nation’s ethical and legal values.”
As calls for the establishment of the FCC gain momentum in legal and politcal circles, experts remain hopeful that this new court will not only streamline constitutional adjudication but also help restore public confidence in our judicial system regarding speedy justice.
PMLN KP Information Secretary Ikhtair Wali said said that judicial reforms was the need of the hour keeping in view of the rising cases backlog.
He said that PMLN believed in dialogue and all the stakeholders would be taken into confidence before tabling judicial reforms package in the Parliament.
FCC and others proposed amendments were aimed to provide relief to litigants and further increase their confidence in higher judiciary, he reiterated.
Ikhtair Wali ruled out the impression that proposed judicial reforms package are person-specefic, adding it was aimed to strengthen judicial system and provide relief to litigants swiftly.
He said the need for timely justice has never been more critical than today in the wake of population explosion and the FFC could represent a vital step towards achieving the key goal.
