Justice Delayed in Pakistan: Why Millions of Court Cases Remain Unresolved

Access to justice is a fundamental right guaranteed to every citizen in Pakistan still justice is not provided timely. It usually takes years and decades to decide one civil case matter in our courts. It is acceptable that some complex cases take times but it’s alarming that routine or baseless cases remain unresolved for years. Societies where justice take endless time to deliver is commonly known for the higher crime rate countries. When everything seems impossible the last option people have is moving towards courts for justice. Courts are taking too much time to decide cases that people start losing faith in the courts system. We have to restore the reputation of courts, otherwise people will lose their complete faith in the courts. Justice must be provided timely so people focus on their lives instead of courts hearing, cost, and time. When justice gets delayed, normally, people put their other work or responsibilities aside and spend their whole life on just one case. Sometimes a minor matter for the courts is a person’s entire life depending on it. There are some cases which take a lot of time, and these are acceptable, but even today, in Pakistan, there are many such cases which are baseless, and the court is taking years to decide them. Courts should give justice to people rapidly so that people do not waste their entire lives in these legal proceedings.

“According to recent report reveals that 82pc of pending cases (1.86 million) are at the district judiciary level, while the remaining 18pc (0.39 million cases) are at the upper tier, which includes the Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court, and High Courts.” More than 2.6 million total cases are pending before the lower court and the Higher court in Pakistan. The number of cases is increasing day by day; previous cases are not resolved yet, and new cases are being registered.

Research show several reason behind the delayed justice including Procedural, institutional and systematic. In May 2025, Chief Justice Yahya Afridi put an effort to reform the judicial system of Pakistan, advanced information technology has been integrated to enhance judicial efficiency but the issue remains the same, justice is delayed. If the Judiciary fails to provide justice then technological advancement is not enough to gain public trust.

Outdated case management system is another reason for the Judiciary inefficiency. There is no proper system for the distribution of cases, usually one judge is responsible for many cases. Most judges move from one court to another, this also causes the problem because a new judge takes time to understand the case. Judges are intelligent but still humans cannot bear more than a reasonable burden. Decision making is not easy; they are responsible for their decisions to the country.

Systematic corruption is also prevalent in lower courts due to which there is inequality between the rich and the poor. Corruption is common in the district courts, sometimes the judges join hands and sometimes the lawyers meet each other. Due to this, even if a poor person is on the truth, he still loses or his case never ends. Everyone is not the same but still there are people in our system who do not hesitate to make money through corruption. These corrupt people ruined our profession badly. After stepping in power, there are very few people who will not indulge in corruption. Need to take serious actions to remove these corrupt people from the profession of Advocacy.

Another reason for the delayed justice is unnecessary adjournments. When the parties are unnecessarily unavailable judges should take some serious actions against them. Judges should not hesitate to give Ex Parte decisions in the absence of other parties. This will save the time of court and the party.

Alternative Dispute Resolution systems need to be more formally introduced in society. Petty matters that can be resolved outside the court must try the ADR method. It will reduce the court burden and the court can focus on major issues. ADR is less costly and timely resolves the cases with mutually agreeable solutions.

If we look at the population of Pakistan then the number of judges in our courts are not enough for this rapidly growing population. Sometimes the judges are not available due to leave and another date announced for the hearing. Appointment of more judges avoids the next hearings and delays in cases. Shortages of judges is a very common problem in our Judiciary system that will be focused and solved as soon as possible.

Since cases are not decided timely people are facing many problems despite family finances issues there are many more people face. Delayed justice affects the person’s mental health and sacrifices their personal lives. Taking stress for a long time without knowing what will be the decision of the court can cause some serious mental health problems.

We can enforce justice through Judiciary only if justice is not provided timely then the public lose their faith in Judiciary. A large number of cases are pending in the lower courts, limited use of technology and corruption is also a failure of this system. If someone loses his life while waiting for justice and someone continues to suffer oppression, then the courts will be held responsible for this. Courts must act strictly otherwise oppression will never end.