Civil Procedure Code causes delays in justice, JSC says

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has stated that the Civil Procedure Act does not ensure justice and that 60% of cases remain stalled in courts.

The statement was made during a meeting between the JSC and the Judiciary Committee of Parliament on Monday, where the Commission explained the reasons for ongoing case delays in the courts.

JSC Chairman Hussain Riza Adam said that before the introduction of the Civil Procedure Act in 2022, 60% of cases filed in the Civil Court were decided without delay. However, since then, the Civil Court has become congested with unresolved cases.

“The change brought by the Civil Procedure Act in 2022 has caused court cases to come to a standstill. There were 17 judges, but cases were not proceeding. Before that, about 60% of civil disputes were being resolved. Now, the Civil Court is fully crowded,” Riza said.

He noted that amendments to the law were submitted to the Attorney General’s Office in February last year. Riza added that once the amended law is passed, it is expected to help speed up the handling of court cases.

According to the JSC, there are currently 4,777 pending cases in the Civil Court. Of these,

Riza said that adopting a dispute resolution mechanism could help reduce these numbers significantly.

Civil Court Judge Farhad Rasheed, who is also a member of the JSC, said that the court had decided more than 400 cases within three months in the year before the law came into effect. The main challenge under the current system, he said, is the lack of appropriate staff.

Judge Farhad explained that under the Civil Procedure Act, all procedural tasks — from receiving cases to assigning them to judges — have been given to administrative staff. However, the court lacks employees with sufficient legal training for such work.

“At present, there is only one legal officer in the Civil Court, along with four administrative staff. They are not adequately trained to handle legal procedures. Legal staff are required for this work,” he said.

Farhad added that the previous system, in which judges managed the process from case filing through to hearings, had worked more efficiently.

“It used to be that the judge could continue the trial from the time a case was filed. Now, all preliminary work is handled by administrative staff, and the case reaches the judge only after the initial replies are received,” he said.

He also said that many members of the public do not know how to fill out the required legal forms, which has further delayed proceedings. As a result, more than 40% of judgments are given in the presence of the judge.

“The question is whether justice is being achieved. The public does not know how to fill the current forms, and when they are called, they often say they were not guided properly,” Farhad said.