Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi approached a space full of legal employees at the beginning of the new judicial year and spoke not only the corners that require improvement but the steps that the Supreme Court has already taken are now formalized.
There was a great deal of emphasis on digitization and how to use the available technology to make the justice system even more efficient. Today’s order was how to make the judiciary more effective and to tackle the court’s “function” and the “administrative side” of things. According to CJ’s needs, according to CJ, it was how to reduce backlog and abbreviation of case -timelines. In his speech, CJ Afridi recommended that this be done using technology.
He put out five pillars that would integrate technology into the daily processes of the courts. The first was “to improve service delivery through technology – from less paper to paperless.”
Read: SC opens new legal year with full agenda
Chief Justice explains that the court in the past year has slowly begun to integrate steps, such as filing digital case, have been introduced, case files can now be transferred online and cases can also be fully traced. E-services such as e-affidavits and digital delivery of orders have been implemented. Messages will now be distributed through WhatsApp and SMS.
One of the focuses along with digitization and more of a reasoning was to make the court the court more accessible to the common citizen, which is what the other pillar addresses. “Improving access and accountability”, as minted by Chief Justice, refers to making the justice system a corruption -free and transparent zone.
A hotline has been set up exclusively to give an anonymous and safe way for citizens to report events with various corrupt practices without having to fear the consequences of filing the complaint. Each report is traced and addressed within 30-60 days, depending on the nature of the complaint.
By contacting the financial aspect of the judiciary, it was announced that an external revision of judicial accounts from 2024-2025 was conducted by the Audit Department of the Pakistan Government. The result of this audit has reached the courts and the concerns raised.
A new initiative to standardize processes and quality assurance has been implemented and will be formalized soon. The Court has also taken steps to help overseas litigation by establishing an overseas litigation for the facilitation center.
The third pillar on the agenda was “to strengthen the legal and regulatory framework”, which refers to the steps that the court will take to exploit artificial intelligence. Most of these procedures were already practiced and advised, but now they will be shaped through the implementation of rules.
“Everyone talks about technology and artificial intelligence,” and therefore the 61,000 files are digitally scanned and the project ends in six months. Once the cases have been scanned, the use of AI will be implemented and used for tasks such as planning cases.
New policies and standards for procedures will be implemented that would help with the policy with early hearings and counter-road-fixing cases. CJ Afridi declared that the judges are not limited to traveling during vacations during judicial recovery, but for ordinary leave, the judges must inform the administration. These SOPs would further address the court’s rest houses and vehicles and the allocation of leave to judges.
Chief Justice dealt with the disputed topic of safety vehicles and that these will be limited not only for other judges, but for Chief Justice himself. If the interest that is interested is a resident of Islamabad, they have no need for excessive security, but if they are traveling or in need, additional safety vehicles will be delivered.
Pending cases and delays in hearings were highlighted where Chief Justice claims that the number of pending cases has not fallen despite the increase in the number of judges. He replied this by stating that last year 42,666 cases were registered, and this year 77,433 cases have been registered. Last year, attorneys submitted 22,425 requests for postponements, and this year the number increased to 56,449 withdrawals.
The Pakistani courts are signing an appointment morandum (Mou) with Supreme People’s Court of China, and a draft of Mou with the Constitutional Court in Turkiye is reviewed.
The court also participates in cooperative exchanges with the top courts in Bangladesh, Iran, Azerbaijan and Denmark. This is done with the globalization of our world in mind, Chief Justice said that existing isolation is no longer beneficial or possible.
