ISLAMABAD: The government’s claim of dispensing justice at citizens’ doorstep seems to be negated by the fact that at least 20 important tribunals or special courts at the federal level, which are seized with approximately 8,468 various cases, had become non-functional.

At the federal level, the following tribunals and special courts are currently non-functional due to vacancies: the Environment Protection Tribunal; Special Court (Offence in Banks); Drug Court Islamabad; Cyber Crime Court Islamabad; Foreign Exchange Regulation Appellate Tribunal; Accountability Courts II and IV-Rawalpindi; Special Court (Offences in Banks-II) Lahore; Banking Courts in Lahore, Gujranwala, Karachi, Sukkur, Larkana; Customs Appellate Tribunal benches II and III in Karachi; Insurance Tribunal Karachi; Commercial Court Karachi; and, the National Industrial Relations Commission Bench in Quetta.

Similarly, another ten tribunals and special courts are non-functional at the provincial level: the Lahore Development Authority tribunal; drug courts in Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Multan; labour courts in Sukkur, Bahawalpur and Multan; consumer courts in DG Khan, Rawalpindi and Gujrat, Anti-Terrorism Courts in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur; Commercial Court Lahore; tribunals for removal of encroachments in Hyderabad and Larkana; and the Environmental Protection Tribunal in Peshawar.

Many of the vacancies in these tribunals or special courts have persisted since December last year.

CJP takes suo motu notice of persistent vacancies in federal, provincial institutions

Realising the distressing state of affairs, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has taken suo motu notice of the matter, issuing directions to the court office to fix the matter on April 4.

Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf and the advocate generals of the provinces have also been issued notices to come prepared with justifications for keeping these tribunals or administrative courts non-functional by not appointing their chairmen or members.

The suo motu notice was taken on a note, issued by the court’s registrar office, highlighting that access to justice was the right of every citizen of Pakistan and administration of justice was the responsibility of the courts of law for which different special courts and tribunals have been created under the relevant statutes in accordance with 175 and 212 articles of the Constitution.

These forums are an important component of the justice delivery system, which play an effective role in the overall governance system of the country, the note said, adding that the tribunals or courts established under different statutes were essential to provide the right to aggrieved persons.

However, the people are unable to get their rights to redress their grievances if the functioning of such courts and tribunals is hampered by the failure of the state machinery to fill the vacancies necessary to run them effectively, the office note explained.

“Prima facie, it tantamount to denial of the right of access to justice to the people as embedded in the legal maxim: where there is a right, there is a remedy.”

The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that the Multan Labour Court has 1,400 pending cases and the Bahawalpur Labour Court has 768 cases pending. The Lahore Banking Court has 1,099 cases pending, while two banking courts in Gujranwala have 1,961 and 1,114 pending cases, respectively.

The Multan Drug Court has 775 pending cases, the Lahore Labour Court has 280 cases, Faisalabad Labour Court 184, Rawalpindi Consumer Court 180 cases, LDA Tribunal 120 cases and the Foreign Exchange Regulation Appellate Tribunal has 28 cases to decide.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2017