The opening ceremony for the 'New Judicial Year' 2011-12 will be held in the principal seat of the Supreme Court (SC) on September 12, which worked round the clock to do away with the pendency of cases. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will chair the ceremony and other Judges of the SC will participate in the event.
According to SC Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain, the ceremony has been scheduled for 9:15 am in Courtroom No 1 of the Supreme Court building. The Attorney General for Pakistan, the Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman and the Supreme Court Bar Association president will deliver speeches on the occasion whereas the Chief Justice will deliver concluding address.
Advocates of Supreme Court, Senior Advocates Supreme Court and Advocates on Record will also attend the ceremony. The opening ceremony will mark commencement of new Judicial Year 2011-12, with an eye to make plans and devise strategies to face the challenges including the backlog, prolonged pendency of cases and providing remedy in the observance of 'Principle of Equity' in dispensing of justice to litigant parties.
During the outgoing judicial year, benches of the SC decided a good number of cases. However, backlog of cases on July 1, 2011 was 19,550. During June, the court disposed of total 1781 cases, whereas 1180 new cases were filed by justice seekers in the SC.
Despite hearing regular cases, the SC also heard urgent cases including missing persons, ZAB reference , Bank of Punjab multi-billion loan scam, corruption in Hajj arrangements 2010, National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam, Safe City Project, National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and case related to loan written off by State Bank of Pakistan. The Chief Justice and other Judges of the SC remained committed to accelerate disposal of cases which resulted in reducing the backlog.