The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has stated the Criminal Court needs 16 years to clear all pending cases at the court, even if working at full capacity every day.
Speaking at the Parliamentary Committee on Judiciary regarding the delays in scheduling and conducting court hearings, President of JSC and Parliamentarian Hisaan Hussain said an average of 900 new cases are submitted to the Criminal Court every year. Hisaan noted the Criminal Court has faced several additional difficulties in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the closure of the court due to lockdown and travel restrictions which obstructed the process of summoning detainees to court from prison. She said the court currently has a massive amount of pending cases, which will take 16 years to clear even if the court works every day at full capacity.
Speaking further, the JSC president said allocating overtime hours between 1400hrs and 1700hrs every day could speed up the process of clearing pending cases. However, she noted additional staff are required at both the Criminal Court, as well as the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) to achieve this.
The Parliamentary Committee on Judiciary began an inquiry into court procedures due to the extensive delays in conducting trials and hearings of certain cases. In addition to JSC, the committee will be summoning other relevant authorities for questioning regarding the inquiry.