SC decides 1976 cases in October
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court of Pakistan disposed of 1976 cases during the month of October 2006 whereas 721 new cases were instituted in the apex Court.
The Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan,Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry constituted Benches at the Principal Seat, Islamabad and Branch Registries at Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta that worked hard anddisposed of these cases to provide speedy justice and relief to the aggrieved.
Details of institution and disposal of cases during the month of October last at Principal Seat as well as Branch Registries are that Supreme Court disposed of 432 cases and instituted 272 cases at Islamabad in October.
The Apex court disposed of 1046 cases at branch registry of Lahore and instituted 236 cases during the month of October. During the same month the Supreme Court disposed of 301 cases at Karachi and instituted 73 cases.Similarly it disposed of 158 cases and instituted 116 at Peshawar.The number of cases disposed of by Supreme Court at its branch registry of Quetta during October was 48 while it innstituted 24 cases.
According to a press release of Supreme Court of Pakistan, issued heretoday,the backlog in the apex Court on October 1, last was 13831 cases and 721 fresh cases were instituted in the apex Court during the last month ending October 31 .
Thus the progressive total comes to 14552 on October 31 2006. Out of this 1976 cases were disposed during the month of October and now the backlog as on November 1 (today) is 12576. During the month under report, the ratio of disposal of cases was more than double that of fresh institution i.e. disposal was 1976 cases against the institution of 721 cases.
Under the guidance of Honourable Chief Justice, the Court has adoptedan efficient and purpose-oriented strategy to prepare cause lists in advance and discourage adjournment that worked well during the last month and served the purpose of accelerating disposal of the cases.
Besides, Honourable Chief Justice took Suo Motu notice in number of cases of Human Rights Violations and passed appropriate orders in this regard. He also passed necessary orders on several complaints received from the aggrieved and downtrodden persons to make the judicial system more operational and effective.